Pune Beat

Onions' fourth dimension scares buyersThe onions' sob story never ends. Earlier, the price of the commodity brought tears. Then, there were ...

Onions’ fourth dimension scares buyers
The onions’ sob story never ends. Earlier, the price of the commodity brought tears. Then, there were fears about its availability. This was followed by talks of them being imported. Now, its fourth dimension — the colour and shape — is driving the buyers away.

City onion freaks are turning up their noses at the imported Iranian onion for its unconventional looks. The local produce is meeting the city’s needs while the imported onion is being sent to less finicky buyers in Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Kanpur, Aurangabad, Chittor and parts of South Marashtra.

“The high-profile import was rejected by city buyers who did not like its dark red skin, large size and shapeless appearance,” confirms Rajan Kachi, chief administrator, Agriculture Produce Market Committee. “We had to send the onions to other cities,” he says.

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Instead customers are preferring to stick to the medium quality onion that is coming to the market yard at Rs 120 to Rs 200 per ten kg. Available in city markets at Rs 12 to Rs 15 a kg, this is the onion most in demand with common citizens as well as vendors selling `vada-pav’, `bhel’ and `pav-bhaji’.

It is only posh localities like Phule Market, Sind Society, Prabhat Road, Koregaon Park and MG Road that are vying with the five-star hotels for the most expensive onion presently going at Rs 25 a kg.

Of the 21 tonnes of imported onion that came to the market two days ago, only 12 kgs survived and was sent to outside cities where it was sold for Rs 22 a kg. The city has not felt the pinch because it needs just 50 tonnes of onion a day which is met by five of the 40 trucks that come to he market everyday.