Onion costs shoot up as traders lament scarcity of commodity

A bag of onions is recording an astronomical increase in both the retail and wholesale markets in the Ashanti region.

A bag of the commodity is currently selling at nearly 4,000 cedis from its initial cost of about 3,000 cedis at the beginning of the year.

A bucket of large pieces of onion containing at least 30 bulbs of the vegetable costs a minimum 600 cedis from its original price of 300 cedis.

Onion traders at the Anloga market in Kumasi are attributing the surging costs to the recent scarcity of the commodity and the high exchange rate.

Consumers are lamenting the exorbitant cost of onions.

When the news team visited the Anloga market, Faiza Osman, an onion retailer, was busy haggling with her customers to reach a compromise over the new price.

“If I should sell this to you at 300 cedis, I will incur losses. Onions are costly now,” she told her customer.

But Akua Amuasi would not purchase the onions at that price as she also argues she wouldn’t be able to break even.

Eventually, the two agreed to a convenient price.

Although the sale of onion seems to be on a boom, consumers who are at the receiving end are distraught over the new prices.

The traders describe the new cost as unprecedented and the highest record in a long while.

Naomi Adutwumwaa came to the market with expectations of getting more bulbs of onions at an affordable price.

But she had to buy 200 cedis of onions to match the quantity she desired to prepare food for her family.

“In the previous year, I could get this same quantity at 50 cedis. But I had to buy this for 200 cedis. We hope the government does something about it,” she said.

In the last few months, the trucks of onions transporting the commodity to the market have decreased from 20 trucks daily to about 4 trucks.

“Even with that we are unable to fill the trucks. We can only transport a quarter of the size of the vehicle,” Masawudu, a transporter, said.

Leadership at the market wants measures instituted by the government to stabilize the cedi depreciation while urging researchers to engineer onion varieties that can be grown locally to meet the demands and favorability of Ghanaians.