A combination of supply chain disruption due to COVID-19 and recent flooding in parts of North India had a role to play in the shooting up of vegetable prices here, claim vendors. However, with adverse factors receding, most expect prices to return back to normal soon.
“Two factors have led to the rise in prices,” said Anil Malhotra of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Company (APMC). He added that these include a slowdown in farming due to the lockdown and COVID-19 and the recent flooding.
Mr. Malhotra expects prices to stabilise and go back to normal now that lockdown restrictions have eased and people have started going back to work, he said.
Kunal Saxena, a vendor at the Govindpuri vegetable market, argued that there was plenty of supply in the market and that the slowdown was only temporary because of the flooding. While costs of most vegetables were stable, he pointed out that the cost of tomatoes and potatoes had particularly shot up.
While the sales had been severely affected due to COVID-19, he believed prices would return to normal in about months time, once winter sets in, he said.
Vendors did say that demand was a lot weaker since the lockdown. The same way it has affected every other business, it has affected the vendors too, said Dhara Singh, who has been selling vegetables for the last 15 years. Earlier, restaurants would purchase supply from the market, but with fewer people visiting them restaurants were also buying lesser, he said.
With regard to the rise in prices, he concurred that rates would likely return to normal soon and that such fluctuations are common during the monsoon.
Consumers hit hard
The rise in prices has hit the consumers hard as well. “Tomatoes are double the rate,” complained Simran Kaur, who said she had become extra wise on her grocery spending.
Rates were not an issue for everyone however. Others such as Ashwin Kumar commenting that such changes were common and weren’t changing his purchasing choices.
