Onion prices score a century in Bengal

Kolkata: The price of onion is bringing tears in the eyes of its consumers in Bengal, with a kilo of the staple costing a whopping Rs 100 on Monday in some city retail markets.

The vegetable not only scored a "century', its price shot even higher in a few markets.

Onion had been selling at Rs 70-80 a kilo over the past couple of weeks.

Traders, however, felt the price would hover around the present figure, if not at a higher range for a few more days, as the state's decision to import onions from Rajasthan and Karnataka to boost the stock would see on-ground effect only next month.

A member of the state task force on vegetables said the situation has come to this pass because of the heavy rains in Maharastra's Nashik, which resulted in a large quantity of the bulb rotting following water seepage.

Maharashtra supplies about 70,000 tones of onion to Bengal every month, out of the state's total requirement of one lakh tonnes. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh supplies the rest.

The onion supply from Nashik is expected to arrive in the metropolis in mid-December, when the prices would ease further.