The average price of onions at Lasalgaon, the Nashik district market that serves as India’s benchmark for onion prices, roughly doubled between early August and early September. Traders paid an average of ₹4,500 a quintal on September 9, and the best lots fetched ₹5,100, according to The Free Press Journal. On August 8 the same market’s average stood at ₹2,180, Business Today reported.
At the auction yard, ₹4,500 a quintal works out to about ₹45 a kilo, before transport, commission and the shopkeeper’s margin get added. Pune households now pay ₹60 to ₹70 a kilo, about ₹25 more than six weeks ago, while wholesale rates at Gultekdi Market Yard sit between ₹42 and ₹50, Punekar News reported on September 9.
A storage problem, with a late crop on top
On paper India grew enough onions. Output for 2025-26 came to 307.37 lakh tonnes, almost level with the 307.67 lakh tonnes of the year before, The Federal noted in its analysis of the rise. The squeeze comes from the stored crop.
From August until the kharif harvest, markets run on summer onions that farmers pulled out of the ground in March and April and kept in storage sheds. Rain at harvest time and humid weather in June and July shorten that crop’s shelf life, and this year’s stock has lost quality. Daily arrivals at Lasalgaon fell from about 15,000 quintals to about 8,000 over two weeks in early August and have stayed close to that level since. On September 9, 8,548 quintals reached the yard, and graders marked 151 of the 689 lots as poor or damaged.
The next crop is running late too. Farmers in southern states sowed their kharif onions late, so fresh supply will reach markets after its usual October start. Market analysts cited by the Free Press Journal expect prices to stay firm until November.
Why the rally is passing many Nashik growers by
Earlier in the season, summer onions sold below what they cost to grow. Farmers around Niphad and the rest of the district who needed cash, or who feared losing onions in storage, sold then. Few of them still hold stock, so the ₹5,100 lots reward a narrower group: growers with sound storage and the means to wait. The ₹1,100 minimum on the same day shows what damaged onions still fetch.
Growers also object to the pattern of government intervention. The Centre releases buffer stock and reaches for curbs when prices climb, farmers argue, and stays out when prices crash. The Free Press Journal reported that farmer groups want a steady export and marketing policy in place of case-by-case action.
The buffer stock has not cooled prices yet
The Centre bought about 1.21 lakh tonnes of rabi onions for its price-stabilisation buffer this year, well short of its 2 lakh tonne target. From August 24 it began selling that stock at ₹35 a kilo through NAFED, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar outlets, and it has run “Kanda Express” consignments from Nashik to large consuming cities, according to The Federal. The first subsidised sales centred on Delhi. Lasalgaon’s average kept climbing after the releases began, and Mumbai’s average retail price stood at ₹53 a kilo on September 5.
What it means for households
Traders quoted in August said the tight supply would last through September and October, which covers Navratri and Dussehra. Plan the kitchen budget on the assumption of ₹60-plus onions until fresh kharif stock arrives. Bulk buying to beat further rises carries a risk this year: the summer onions in the market have spent months in storage and spoil faster at home. Buying a week’s supply at a time and checking for soft or sprouting bulbs makes more sense than stocking ten kilos.
What to watch
- Arrivals at Lasalgaon. Daily arrivals climbing back toward the 15,000 quintals of late July would be the first sign of relief.
- Southern kharif supply. The timing of fresh onions from southern states decides whether prices ease in October or hold into November.
- Export policy. Nashik growers will read any move on export rules as a test of whether the Centre protects consumers at their expense again.
Sources: The Free Press Journal, Business Today, The Federal, Punekar News
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.