Vegetable prices up

Prices of select vegetables such as carrot and green chillies have touched a new high in the city’s wholesale market and at uzhavar sandhais.

Though the reasons were attributed to short arrivals and wedding season, the merchants said price of green chilly touched Rs.66 per kilogram on Monday and scaled down to Rs.54 the following day.

The price of carrot, which was Rs.44 on the opening day of the week, slipped to Rs.36 on Tuesday. Interestingly, green chilly was being sold at Rs.18 per kg till last week, while carrot below Rs.30, they added.

The prices of onion, however, remained same at Rs.20 and Rs.22 since the beginning of this month, the merchants said.

Similarly, brinjal and tomatoes sold below Rs.20 per kg and there was no big fluctuation in the price of big onions.

At Chokkikulam and Anna Nagar uzhavar sandhais, some regular shoppers felt that the prices of English vegetables may go up further because of short arrivals. “Normally, I buy at least five varieties of vegetables for Rs.100 (each measuring about 250 grams or so), but today, just two items cost Rs.82,” Chandramohan, a resident in Anna Nagar, said.

However, the Agri-Business Marketing committee officials did not see any reason for such ‘abnormal’ rise in the future.

The arrivals are steady and there is good scope for more arrivals when the rains catch up, which would result in dip in prices. Some of the farmers at the Anna Nagar uzhavar sandhai said that green chilly and carrot alone went up more than double the price they were being sold.