Curry sans pyaza in most city kitchens!

AHMEDABAD: Onion prices in the retail market are showing an upward movement even though prices in wholesale market have gone down by nearly Rs 3 per kg in the past couple of days. According to sources, the prices per kg in the wholesale market have been ranging from Rs 13 to Rs 19 depending on the quality, but in retail it is being sold at Rs 35-40 per kg.
Kavita Patel, a resident of Memnagar, said that the increasing prices have forced her to cut down on the usage. Patel said that earlier she used to buy 1.5 kg of onion every week, but now she buys only half that quantity and has also been forced to rationalize its use. “I have cut its use in curry,” she said.
Bhavnagar APMC sources said that the prices may increase further in the first week of August when the market sees a drop in onion input.
Ghanshyam Patel, a member of Bhavnagar APMC, said that currently the market is getting poor quality onion. “These are coming from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Due to unseasonal rains earlier this year, the quality had suffered and the onion cannot be stocked till October when the new crop arrives,” he said.
He said that currently there is more moisture content in onion and the farmers and the cold-storage owners are resorting to distress selling apprehending early damage of such crops.
Kishore Paryani, a traders in Ahmedabad, said, “The wholesale prices are falling for the past two days because of the good spells of rains.” He, however, said that much would depend on future spell of rains.