The market received about 300 tractor trailors (each carrying about 30 quintals) and 350 bullock carts of the Rabi (summer) onion crop today. The wholesale prices ranged from Rs 151 to Rs 630, the average being Rs 551 quintal.

The prices started rising last week with stocks of the late Kharif crop depleting and the arrivals of the summer crop increasing. On May 4, the wholesale average prices for the late Kharif crop were around Rs 301 per quintal. The fresh summer crop, with shelf life of about six months sold for an average wholesale price of Rs 485 per quintal. Over the week the arrivals have increased and average wholesale price yesterday reached Rs 551 per quintal.

According to market sources, the prices would continue to rise as even the farmers were not in a hurry to selltheir produce as the Rabi onions could be stored for six months. In the Pimpalgaon-Baswant wholesale market the prices of onions have risen to an average of Rs 500 per quintal.

The prices of onions has dropped in the range of Rs 100 to Rs 200 per quintal in February, raising farmers' heckles. The ban on exports had been imposed when prices had skyrocketed to an all-time high of Rs 4,000 per quintal in October last year.