SURAT: Curries in kitches of the Diamond City are tasting bland with the key ingredient - onion - fast becoming out of bounds due to skyrocketing prices.
The prices of the poor man’s bulb have soared to Rs 100- Rs 120 per kg in the retail market due to severe supply shortage at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) after heavy rain in Maharashtra and Saurashtra and rotting of ready crops.
APMC office-bearers said the wholesale prices in the market yard have soared from Rs 47 per 20 kg to Rs 80 per 20 kg in the last fortnight.
As against the daily requirement of 350 metric tonnes of onion, the APMC is receiving less than 140 metric tonnes from Maharashtra which fulfils around 70% of Surat city’s supplies.
APMC secretary Nilesh Thorat told TOI, “The prices are only expected to rise due to the short supply and recent wet spell in Maharashtra and Saurashtra.”
According to Thorat, the spot price of onion at Asia's biggest onion market in Lasalgaon in Maharashtra has crossed Rs 90 per kg and the rates are expected to soar further till around Diwali.
Babu Shaikh, a wholesaler of onion told TOI, “When it was time for harvesting in Maharashtra, the unseasonal rains destroyed the crop in the ground itself.
At the onion markets like Pipalgaon, Lasalgaon and Satana in Maharashtra, onion prices in the wholesale market have touched Rs 90 per kg.. We fear the prices in Surat’s retail market will be around Rs 150 per kg before Diwali festival.”
They are not just onions, but potatoes and tomatoes too that have left a bitter taste. Potatoes are being sold for Rs 40 per kg to Rs 55 per kg for the last one week while tomatoes for Rs 60 per kg now.
Munna Patel, a vegetable vendor said, “People have reduced their purchases drastically.”