KARACHI: The retail price of onion has come down to Rs70 per kg, following a drop in its wholesale price to Rs40-50 per kg in last few days.

After frequently crawling up from Rs30 per kg initially, 10 days before Eidul Azha, onion’s retail price had shot up to Rs 120 per kg last week in Karachi and other parts of the country.

Vice Chairman of Market Committee Asif Ahmed said arrival of onion from India, Afghanistan and some quantity from Iran had caused a major drop in wholesale prices all over the country to Rs40-50 per kg from Rs100-110 per kg.

However, in Karachi, the situation was a bit different. Due to arrival of imported onion in Punjab and Khyber Paktukhawa, the pressure on Balochistan’s crop for feeding the entire country has subsided, Mr Ahmed said, adding the Karachi’s Super Highway market has seen improved onion supply from Balochistan in last few days, causing the price drop to Rs40-50 per kg from Rs112 per kg last week.

He said the size of Afghani onion is large while Indian onion is of medium size.

However, he said consumers do not like Iranian onion very much due to its different quality and taste.

Mr Ahmed said the onion from Kabul may have arrived through the legal channel but he refused to comment on the arrival of Indian onion, either legally or illegally.

Onion had become a rare commodity due to soaring demand on the eve of Eidul Azha, coupled with a slowdown in arrival of the crop from Balochistan. He said that Balochistan’s onion stocks would come to an end this month.

Meanwhile, a trader said that some quantities of Iranian onion had found its way into Karachi’s market whose price hovered between Rs30-35 per kg.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017