KARACHI, Aug 15: As Ramazan draws nearer, the rate of onion, one of the most demanding items during the fasting month, has shot up to Rs25 per kg from Rs18 per kg last week. The other hot-selling commodity, potato, has also become dearer by Rs2 per kg, retailers said.

They said that the price of onion of different qualities at the Sabzi Mandi ranged between Rs20 to Rs22 per kg and, as such, it was impossible for them to dispose it with a profit of just Re1 or Rs2 per kg. They pointed out that the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products had further pushed up the transportation cost thus making an additional impact on the retail prices of all vegetables.

President of the Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Haji Shahjehan said that some 25-30 tons of onion from Afghanistan was arriving daily for the last one month but it was mainly being utilised in Punjab and NWFP.

The landing price of Kabul’s high-quality onion ranges between Rs2,400-2,500 a sack (of 120 kg) or Rs20-22 per kg. The next lower quality onion sells at Rs15-16 per kg at the wholesale level. The arrival of Kabul’s onion is insufficient as against the rising demand.

On the contrary, the rate of a 108-110kg onion bag from Balochistan crop ranges between Rs1,800-2,000 at the wholesale market of Super Highway.

Currently, there is a pressure on the two-month-old Balochistan crop as it is meeting the demand of the entire country. Besides, there was some expectation from the NWFP crop which was to arrive between June and August. However, the size of the crop appeared insufficient due to 30-40 per cent less cultivation in that province.

Haji Shahjehan says the onion prices in the city will remain under pressure and its rate may remain on a higher side during Ramazan when the demand will exceed the supply. In July, onion was selling at Rs15 per kg at retail markets.

He says that the standing onion crop in Balochistan, could not be watered properly in June due to load-shedding in the onion cultivation areas. Bad condition of roads after recent rains also created a problem in transportation of the crop.

It is feared that the onion price may go up to Rs30 per kg at the retail level in Ramazan if the city government did not monitor the market situation and ensure filling of the gap between demand and supply now.

According to Haji Shahjehan, potato is arriving from Punjab’s cold storages. Its wholesale price has surged to Rs16 from Rs14 per kg over the last week due to some transportation problems following rains in Punjab.