The price of all varieties of flowers has sky-rocketed in the open markets in the district, thanks to the Pongal festival buying spree by the people.
Salem district used to receive flowers from various villages and also from the neighbouring Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts.
VOC Market in Salem city is a major flower market of the western belt and it received more than ten tonnes of flowers daily.
The price of ‘gundu malli’ which stood at Rs. 1,000 a kg last week has shot up by up to ₹ 600. The price ranged between ₹ 1,400 and ₹ 1,600 a kg on Friday.
The price of ‘sannamalli’ which was priced at ₹ 700 a kg last week was marketed at ₹ 1,200. Similarly the price of other varieties of flowers too has shot up: ‘kakkattan from ₹ 200 to ₹ 600; ‘arali’ from ₹ 60 to ₹ 150; ‘sambangi’ from ₹ 20 to ₹ 60; ‘samanthi’ from ₹ 60 to ₹ 100; ‘button rose’ from ₹ 100 to ₹ 160 and ‘kozhikondai’ from ₹ 30 to ₹ 60.
A cross section of the traders of VOC flower market said that due to the winter season, the arrival of flower stock from the villages was depleting for the past one month. The drop arrival led to increase in the price of flowers such as gundu malli and sannamalli.
Now with the commencement of Pongal festival season, the price of other flowers too has shot up.
Irrespective of the hike in the flower price, a large number of retail flower traders and the general public thronged the VOC Market for procuring flowers for offering worship.
Many temporary flower shops have sprang up on the platforms in the main areas such as Suramangalam, Hasthampatti, Koranguchavadi, Shevvapet, Kondalampatti etc, which too attracted good number of customers.
Similar trend continued in all the flower markets across the district. The price is expected to remain on the higher side, till the festival season is over, the traders said.
