After remaining stable for nearly three months, the prices of some vegetables have started spiralling this winter.
Customers are feeling the pinch as locally grown vegetables such as ladies fingers, snake gourd, bitter gourd and ivy gourd come with a costly price tag. Traders in the Koyambedu wholesale perishable goods market said that vegetable crops were destroyed during Cyclone Vardah, particularly in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts from where the market receives bulk of its locally grown produce.
Similarly, snake gourds are sourced from Arakkonam, Tiruttani and Gudiyatham and their price has doubled over the past few days. Ladies fingers and beans are some of the vegetables that have become expensive and cost up to ₹45 in the wholesale market owing to short supply.
However, onions are still priced the same — at ₹13 to ₹15 a kg. In western suburbs, truckloads of onions are brought for sale and six kg of onions are sold for ₹100.
Wholesale traders said there has been a 20 per cent increase in price of locally grown vegetables in the past few days. But, cost of some vegetables such as potatoes and carrots remain stable. Green peas and broad beans are popular choices as they are priced in the range of₹20 and ₹ 25 in the wholesale market.
Normally, prices start to spiral in December and drop after Pongal. However, this time, vegetables prices remained low due to demonetisation and drought in other places has influenced the price now. The vegetable market receives only 350 loads of produce against its normal share of 400 truckloads daily.
P. Sukumar, joint secretary of Koyambedu Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables Market Merchants Association, said normally, it takes two months for fresh harvest of vegetables. The cost of locally grown vegetables received from areas in the radius of 100 km may slightly dip by mid-February. “But, the severity of drought and summer may have an impact on vegetable price in the coming months. There are chances for the prices to escalate by 50 per cent in April if there is not enough rainfall,” he said.
