Green Onion Price Nearly Quadruples in Kathmandu This Dashain, Data Shows

Green onion sold for 275 rupees a kilogram on October 12, 26 Asoj, up 266.67 percent from 75 rupees a year earlier, according to Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board data cited by OnlineKhabar. That is about 2 US dollars for one kilogram. Asparagus rose 66.67 percent to 750 rupees a kilogram. Round mushroom climbed 61.04 percent to 525 rupees.

For a family shopping for Dashain, most staples cost more than they did a year ago. Cooking oil, spices, rice, lentils and beaten rice are among them, OnlineKhabar reported, citing the Nepal Retail Trade Association. Sunflower oil is up 60 rupees a litre, to 305 rupees. Coriander powder rose from 300 to 475 rupees a kilogram. The outlet said the rise has weakened the purchasing power of low and middle income households.

The traders' federation chairman blames roads and weather. Kalimati's information officer points to short supply and how traders sell. Bharat Prasad Khatiwada, chairman of the Nepal Fruits and Vegetable Entrepreneurs Federation, told OnlineKhabar that blocked roads after flooding have stopped Indian tomato shipments, driving up prices. A crate of tomatoes sold for 1,000 to 1,200 rupees last week when three to four trucks got through, he said. Bidur Prasad Acharya, information officer at the Kalimati market board, said daily arrivals have risen from about 500 tonnes to 600 tonnes but remain short of demand, partly because traders fear ordering more than they can sell. Acharya also said retail prices stay high because traders sell for a short time in the morning and leave, OnlineKhabar reported. Farmers in Dhading, Nuwakot, Kavre and Chitwan, the main districts that supply Kathmandu Valley's vegetables, told OnlineKhabar that nonstop rain rotted vegetables in their fields. OnlineKhabar reported that the flood on Rasuwa's Bhotekoshi river on 10 Bhadau, in late August, and the rain that followed broke the supply chain, and it has not recovered.

OnlineKhabar's report says middlemen and traders are cartelling and charging what they like, using shortages and transport as the excuse. That is the outlet's own word. No regulator, court filing or named complaint in the report backs it, and neither named source it quotes uses it.

Kalimati's 2018 record

Kalimati has been investigated before. On August 20, 2018, angry traders surrounded a government inspection team at the market, and police detained Khatiwada, then general secretary of the same federation, on a charge of manhandling officials, The Kathmandu Post reported. The Post's report does not say whether he was later charged in court. The investigation that followed found a syndicate of middlemen controlling the supply chain, the Post reported in September 2018. By then the Kalimati board had cancelled permits for 57 of 98 stalls "to end cartel in the vegetable business," Agriculture Minister Chakrapani Khanal said. The Post did not link Khatiwada to any cancelled stall.

What the coverage missed

Traders have blamed the weather before. Ahead of an earlier Dashain, FreshPlaza reported that Khatiwada, then president of the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Wholesalers' Association, called talk of price hikes "just rumours" and blamed rain and affected roads. In September 2025, the Post reported consumer rights activists accusing traders of creating artificial shortages during festivals, and said authorities "have failed to regulate prices effectively" despite the same pattern recurring every festive season. Nepal Rastra Bank put vegetable inflation at 10.71 percent in fiscal year 2024/25, against 4.06 percent for prices overall, the Post reported in September 2025.

OnlineKhabar's own reporting also quotes farmers in Dhading, Nuwakot, Kavre and Chitwan saying they still are not getting fair prices even for vegetables that reach the market, raising the question of who along the chain keeps the difference.

What we still do not know

Whether the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection or the Competition Promotion and Market Protection Board, Nepal's anti-cartel regulator, has inspected Kalimati or issued any statement this Dashain.

What farmers in Dhading, Nuwakot, Kavre and Chitwan are actually paid per kilogram for tomato, cauliflower and green onion this year, against Kalimati and retail prices.

Whether the 2018 task force the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies formed to clean up Kalimati is still active, and whether any stalls flagged then are still operating. The Kalimati board or the ministry could say.

Relief may come slowly. Acharya expects vegetable prices to ease as more people leave Kathmandu for Dashain. Cauliflower and barela, a gourd families favour at festivals, may still climb, he told OnlineKhabar.