Price Behaviour and Market Integration of Onion in Punjab

The present study was carried out to investigate the growth performance and variability in area, production, and productivity of onion districts of Punjab, 2010–11 to 2021–22 using Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and variability index. The data were collected for the selected markets from 2013–2022. The findings revealed that onions arrivals peaked in April (122.93 and 149.62) and were the lowest in December (56.83) and prices of onion in the Punjab markets were highest in October (147.05) and lowest in May (57.08). Co-integration was worked out by using the Johansen co-integration test and the Granger causality test. Augmented Dickey-Fuller test was used to check the presence of a unit root in the time series data. Market integration analysis indicated strong price correlation between Ludhiana-Amritsar (r = 0.96) and Ludhiana-Barnala (r = 0.93). Johansen co-integration confirmed long-run relationships among markets, while Granger causality revealed bidirectional price transmission only between Ludhiana and Barnala (p = 0.0185, 0.0235), with no causality in other market pairs. The study suggested that there is a need to improve storage and infrastructural facilities to stabilize the onion prices and it is necessary to encourage computerization and networking in the marketplaces in order to strengthen the system of market intelligence and online marketing.