Quoting the government’s data, The Indian Express reports that prices of onions rocketed by 323% in September this year as compared to the same month a year ago. For reference, prices of onions had hiked by 245% by August 2012.
By and large, wholesale prices of vegetables grew by 89.37% on an annualized basis as Hindustan Times specifies. The similar indicator was equal to 77.81% in the previous month.
Onions have always enjoyed a large sale in the country. Hence, due to the abrupt jump of onion prices, the inflation in India reached a 7 month height and run at 6.46% in September. Besides, the seasonal fuel prices increase is the other factor that influenced the accelerating inflation.
Drought in India also had an adverse effect on the harvest and led to the onion shortfall. Due to the above-mentioned causes, the price of onions surged to 100 rupees per kilo in August and it is going on rising. Struggling with high onion prices, India’s authorities had to abridge export sales and also to trigger onion import sales from Egypt, China, and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, a lot of traders in India deliver onions on the market by small batches aiming to reap a profit on the steadily growing prices. Moreover, the mass media mention the public panics as the extra factor that has been fuelling the prices.
