As the year-end celebrations gather steam in Mangalore, prices of vegetables have shot up here just in the last five days.
After onion, tomato price on Wednesday was Rs. 50 a kg. The price of onion was Rs. 60 a kg.
The price of tomato has gone up by Rs. 20 a kg and onion by about Rs. 10 a kg in the past five days.
The price of carrot too shot up to Rs. 55 a kg from Rs. 42 a kg.
Onion cost Rs. 60 a kg on December 20. Its price fell to Rs. 48 to Rs. 53 a kg on December 23. Again its price has shot up now. Lack of supply from places such as Pune and Bangalore was cited as the reason for the increase in the price.
Following arrival of stock, the price of onion came down to Rs. 48 a kg while tomato shot up to Rs. 30 on December 23.
Different rates
On Wednesday, the price of onion ranged between Rs. 56 and Rs. 60 a kg. While shops in the Central Market — the fruits and vegetable hub of the city — sold onion at Rs. 56 a kg, it was priced at Rs. 60 at the Urwa and Bikarnakatte markets.
At a Dakshina Kannada HOPCOMS stall, the onion price was Rs. 50. “The department is supplying us the onion and hence our price is less. We would have to sell around Rs. 60 if we purchase from the wholesale market,” said a HOPCOMS stall dealer in Marnamikatte.
It's the small onions that were being sold in the city.
“For over a week we have not been getting the big onion,” said Rajesh, a retail vegetable dealer. Mangalore gets onion from Pune, Belgaum and Dharwad. The vegetable dealers said the proportion of poor quality onion in a bag continued to be high.
The prices of tomato and carrot are different across the city. The price of tomato at the Central Market was around Rs. 40 a kg while it ranged between Rs. 45 and Rs. 50 in Bikarnakatte and Urwa markets. Similarly, carrot was available at Rs. 50 in the Central Market while it was Rs. 55 at Bikarnakatte and Urva Markets.
“It's another election issue for the Congress and BJP parties. Nothing is being done to bring down the price,” lamented Dinesh R, a resident of Kaikamba.
