Over the past few weeks, garlic prices have touched the sky. Retail price of the bulb across the country is in the Rs 250-350/kg range, which last year was around Rs 40 Three months ago, the price was around Rs 150 Why are garlic prices up? This steady rise in garlic prices both in retail and wholesale markets has to do with the loss of one crop and the delayed harvest of the next. Garlic is grown in two seasons, of kharif and rabi. Growers in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan farm the kharif crop, where plantation is done between June-July and harvest is done post September. The rabi crop is planted in September-November and harvested post March. The delay in harvesting the kharif crop has led to the price rise. Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer of garlic, accounting for 62.85% of the total 31.64 lakh tonne of annual production nationally. This year, the plantation of garlic was delayed over MP and other north Indian states due to the slow progress of the monsoon. Thus, instead of September, the kharif crop started coming in the market only towards the end of November. Full-fledged arrival will begin only towards the end of January next year. Vilas Bhujbal, a trader operating out of Pune’s wholesale market, said the delay in arrival of the crop in Madhya Pradesh had pushed prices up across the country. “With arrivals being slow and demand high, prices have shot up,” he said. Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh has the largest garlic market in the country, and is the price setter for the bulb. At present, garlic is trading at Rs 145.50/kg as against Rs 12.50/kg on December 20, 2022. How long will this trend continue? Bhujbal and traders in Mandsaur ruled out any immediate correction. Retail prices are likely to hover between Rs 250-350/kg till the end of January. Mandsaur traders said the kharif crop is in various stages of being harvested, and prices will improve only when the arrival of the new crop improves. Will the rabi crop be affected? At present, most farmers who plan the rabi crop will be tempted to increase their acreage, given the good price the bulb is fetching. However, lack of soil moisture is going to be a major impediment towards this. Rabi acreage in general is down by around 3% and the same trend is expected to be seen in garlic also. Market estimates also say that garlic acreage is going to shrink in view of the moisture stress in most growing states. The summer crop is normally stored by farmers to be liquidated in tranches, and lower availability early next year is expected to keep pressure on prices intact for quite some time.
