Price of shallot flares up in Tiruchi because of short supply

A vendor displays shallots for sale at Gandhi Market in Tiruchi on Sunday. | Photo Credit: R. VENGADESH The price of shallot has crossed ₹100 a kg in Tiruchi due to short supply. The price of high-quality shallot hovered around ₹35 a kg until July. The price began to rise in the first week of August. It went beyond ₹80 a kg in the third week. It breached ₹100 a kg in the fourth week and it continues to hover beyond ₹100 for the last few days.The price of big onion (Bellari) went past ₹75 for a kg. It was hovering around ₹25 to ₹30 a kg until July.While one kg of shallot was quoted at ₹80 a kg in Gandhi Market on Sunday, it was sold between ₹100 and ₹110 in the retail vegetable grocery stores. Similarly, one kg of high quality big onion was quoted at ₹54 in the Gandhi Market, it was sold between ₹70 and ₹80 in the retail stores.The price of shallot would generally go up in October and November months in view of the festival season as it would witness high in demand. But, the prices have gone up well ahead of the festive season, thereby raising concern among the buyers.Tiruchi gets bulk of shallot supply from Perambalur and Thuraiyur. Wholesale traders also source the tuber from Palladam and some other parts of Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts and Dindigul district. They source from Karnataka and Maharastra. The wholesale market in Tiruchi receives about 5,000 bags of shallot in normal condition. But the supply has come down to about 1,000 bags. The supply from Perambalur is said to have taken a severe hit.“The supply has dwindled from the production centres such as Perambalur and other parts of the State. The supply is poor from Bengaluru and Maharastra as because of failure of monsoon,” says P. Sudhakar of Sri Kalaivani Traders, a wholesale onion trader in Tiruchi.He said there were indications that the supply would go up marginally in the next few weeks. It might bring down the prices marginally. However, they would again go up in view of the festival season. Published - August 30, 2026 07:18 pm IST