Bhubaneswar, July 27: Onion has become dearer as the retail price here in the city has gone up to Rs 40 per kg from Rs 24 per kg.

President of Ainginia Wholesale Traders' Association Shakti Mishra said the first batch of onion harvest was yet to arrive in the market in Nasik.

With the local price going up and the entire nation waiting to have a slice of it, the city price here has gone up from Rs 1,600 per quintal to Rs 2,650. With transport and other handling charges (loading) adding up, the final cost comes to Rs 3,100. Here the major markets are selling the vegetable at Rs 35 or Rs 36 per kg.

Market intelligence officer of the civil supplies and consumer welfare department, Deepak Kumar Satpathy said: "We are monitoring prices at major markets in Unit I, Unit IV, Saheed Nagar, Sundarpara, Gandamunda, Maa Kochilai, VSS Nagar and other important trading points and the rate here is within Rs 36 per kg. It is difficult to monitor all the small retailers across the city."

Satpathy, however, said that to see if local businessmen were charging more, onion traders had been asked to show their purchase bills for the previous day.

Jasaswini Mohapatra, a homemaker from Shatabdi Nagar (Phase-II), said: "What the market pundits are explaining is a different matter. We know that farmers in the western Odisha are producing quality onion, but they are forced to sell the produce to traders in Chhattisgarh as stocks decompose in absence of proper storage facility. And here we are forced to purchase the vegetable at such a high price."

The market intelligence officer, however, clarified that the price hike was a national phenomenon and had no link with the Odisha conditions.

"Last week, the Centre had brought down the export price of onion from $400 per tonne to $250 so that farmers would sale more in the domestic circuit. There is also no customs duty on its import," Satpathy said.

The Wholesale Traders' Association president also said that the situation would change in Nasik in three to four weeks.