Unseasonal rains in India’s main onion producing areas will likely cause production of the commodity in the 2010-11 season to slump by 12 per cent on last season.
During the 2009-10 season India produced 12m tonnes of onions, this season however, production is forecast to fall to just 10.5m tonnes, reported the Economic Times.
The National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation’s additional director Satish Bhonde told the newspaper about 35 per cent of the nation’s onion crop was lost during the summer period because of unseasonal rains.
Mr Bhonde pointed out the crop volume grown during the late summer period could also be down on previous years with growers harvesting prematurely to take advantage of recent sky-high prices, which reached a peak of US$1.90 per/kg on 20 December of last year.
Prices have since cooled, but are still higher than average. The Indian government has taken a number of measures to rein in prices including banning exports of the commodity and removing import duties.
Most recently the commodity has been retailing for US$0.92 per/kg at Lasalgaon wholesale market in the Nashik district of Maharashtra.
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