Bhubaneswar: Onion price which had doubled in the past two weeks, has begun to fall after traders in the state imported the kitchen essential from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“Around 25 truckloads carrying onions have reached Orissa from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The price will now dwindle by `3 to `5 per kg,” Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Surya Narayan Patro told Orissa POST Monday.
The government has advised all civil supply officers to keep a close watch to curb hoarding and black marketing of the bulb, he added.
Asked whether the government will continue to sell the product at the fair price (FP) shops, the minister said, “As the price is expected to fall, we will not sell it in the FP shops any longer. People can get it from the market.” 
Onions were being sold across the state between `28 and `30 per kg in retail shops Sunday while the tear-jerker was available for `32 two days ago.
“As the price of onion in source market Nasik has come down sharply, it will affect our market too. The wholesale price of onion in Nasik market has sharply declined to `2,500 per quintal. So, the retail price has also decreased accordingly,” said All Orissa Traders’ Association general secretary Sudhakar Panda.
Panda urged the state government and Centre to intervene in the matter and control the escalation of onion price with help from Maharashtra government. Otherwise, the price spiral will soar again.
According to sources, the price of onion has gone up this year mainly because of three reasons – cost escalation at source market Nasik, 60 per cent harvest loss in Andhra Pradesh and damage of onions worth `100 crore in Madhya Pradesh.
Orissa produces 2 lakh tonne of onions per year against the yearly demand of 6 lakh tonne. Hence, the state depends on other states to meet its requirement, the sources said.
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