Turkey Onions at Rs 150 Kg sold at Central Veg Market- Traders & Consumers Not Happy with Price
Mangaluru : To control the rising prices of onion, the government had imported 11,000 tonnes of the staple vegetable from Turkey. MMTC has signed a second import order for this and the consignment will reach the country by end of December or the first week of January. The MMTC had arranged imports of onions from various countries, including Turkey, and Mangaluru on Tuesday received 50 tonnes of these Turkey onions at the Port.
It should be noted that MMTC had earlier signed an import deal for 6,900 tonnes from Egypt, and this consignment had reached India few days ago, and these Egypt onions were also sold at Mangaluru market, but consumers were not happy with the quality over onions grown in India. The Egypt onions were sold at Rs 80-Rs 110 a kg in the last few days. On November 20, the Union Cabinet had approved the import of 1.2 lakh tonnes of onions.
Size Matters! Turkey Onion on the left, and Karnataka Onion on the Right
A committee, under Home Minister Amit Shah, and comprising the Finance, Consumer Affairs, Agriculture and Surface Transport Ministers, had been set up to keep a watch on onion prices. This year, heavy rain at the end of monsoon in chief onion-producing states had damaged the kharif season crop and led to a supply shortage. The rain damage could see production of onion decline as much as 26 per cent.
Yours Truly of Team Mangalorean bought a little over a Kg of these Turkey onions this morning and paid Rs 156, for four onions- these onions are bigger in size than our Indian ones, and are yellow in colour. Each of these Turkey onions weigh about 200-250 g. Opposing the soaring price of onions and the middlemen menace, a union of coolies, daily wage earners and head-load workers have decided to hold a protest in the City tomorrow (Thursday) said Mohammed, a trader at Central Vegetable market.
He further said, “The price of these onions is ridiculous, and it may go up further in days to come. There has been involvement of middlemen and hoarders, and therefore the increase in price, which is out of control. While common men suffer because of steep increase in the price of onions, coolies and daily wage workers have no jobs due to short supply. Hence, we the traders have decided to protest tomorrow at 9.30 am at Bunder port”.