Centre offloads 4,000 tonnes of onions from buffer stock in ten days

The Centre has offloaded approximately 4,000 tonnes from its onion buffer stock in the first ten days of a subsidised retail intervention across 17 cities, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said.

The National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation Of India Ltd. (Nafed) are deploying a 1.21 lakh tonne buffer stockpile built for 2026, selling onions at ₹35 per kg in select price-sensitive cities. Transport is being handled through a dedicated rail service dubbed "Kanda Express" and by road.

Rail rakes push onions to metros

Bulk consignments have already reached Delhi and Chennai via the Kanda Express, and a third rake is now being loaded for dispatch to Guwahati in the coming days, Ms. Khare told PTI. The federation is working with State governments to distribute stock through its own stores, mobile vans, cooperative societies and platforms identified by local administrations. The retail push is currently live in the Delhi-NCR region, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha and a few other States.

NCCF Managing Director Anice Joseph Chandra said her federation alone has sold 1,500 tonnes of buffer onion so far, with the Central Warehousing Corporation handling sorting, grading, packing and movement.

Prices ease marginally in some markets

Ms. Khare said the distribution has brought some relief to consumers and that prices have fallen slightly. Ms. Chandra put the decline at ₹2, 3 per kg. Department of Consumer Affairs data, however, shows the all-India average retail price stood at ₹50.79 per kg, compared with ₹48.50 per kg when the subsidised sale was launched on August 28.

Retail prices on September 5 were ₹58 per kg in Delhi, ₹53 per kg in Mumbai, ₹63 per kg in Chennai and ₹40 per kg in Ranchi, while the average wholesale price stood at ₹42.79 per kg.

Ms. Khare noted that the rabi onion crop, typically stored for release later in the year, had suffered some damage during harvesting due to untimely rains. She added that the quality of the government's buffer stock was comparable in size and quality to what private traders were selling.

Officials said the outlook for the new kharif onion crop looks promising, and its arrival in the market from mid-October is expected to ease supply pressure and bring further relief on prices.

Source: The Hindu