Fruit traders expect lockdown to end soon

Fruit traders, who have taken stock of seasonal fruits are expecting the lockdown to end soon and their trade would improve afterwards.

The 21-day nationwide lockdown to combat spread of COVID-19 has severely affected fruit traders here as summer is one of the major business seasons for them. Due to restrictions during lockdown, many fruit shops have shut shops and a few operate within the stipulated time. Lack of juice shops and restricted public movement have affected sales.

Traders also complained that inter-State movement of fruits have also been affected.

A street vendor selling tender coconut lamented that their major supply is from Pollachi and it has been affected since lockdown.

“As truck movement has dropped, we are getting less stock. Also, with fewer public movement, just four or five pieces get sold in the day. We hope things would change soon”, the vendor said.

A. Jayapal, president of Salem Mango and Fruits Traders Association said that arrival of stock and sales in the market has reduced due to lockdown and many are operating with available stock.

“In many places here, fruits are ready for harvest and they haven’t been harvested due to lack of transportation to the market here”, he said.

He added that very few stock is brought based on availability now.

He added that sales of seasonal fruits have been affected as they are mainly sold to juice stores here.

“Fruits like musk melons mainly arrive from Kadapa and is bought for ₹25 per kg. However, due to lack of distribution vehicles its sales have been affected. Fruits like grapes and orange has to arrive from Maharashtra and selling the few stocks has become a challenge”, he said.