Most traders at the Koyambedu market reported losses on Sunday.
“Usually, on Sundays, the crowd here is larger than on other days as many people come to buy vegetables for the whole week. Today, we are expecting a loss of around Rs. 2 crore,” V. R. Soundararajan, adviser to the Koyambedu Vegetable Market Traders said.
Instead of the 300 lorries that deliver goods to the market, only 250 came on Sunday. “We did not receive supplies of bananas, coconut and potatoes. Traders were also forced to reduce the prices of vegetables to prevent their getting spoilt,” he said.
Chicken and meat sales took a hit too with very few supply lorries coming into the city. “But, even the meat we had was not sold because people were wary of stepping out of their houses. We experienced a 25 per cent dip in sales over the weekend,” a member of the meat traders’ association said.
Milk supply to houses was also delayed since there was no late-night lorry movement. “The milk was picked up only in the morning and even then, suppliers were unsure of whether the shops would be open; so delivery to shops was late,” S.A. Ponnusamy, State president, Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers Welfare Association said.
(With inputs from Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)
