The city’s ground-zero for wholesale market of flowers is buzzing with hectic activity with the beginning of the sravana maasam , an auspicious month in the Telugu calendar.
The prices of flowers have gone through the roof, with just two days ahead of the celebrations of this month.
Women are flocking to the wholesale flower market near the Rajiv Gandhi Wholesale Vegetable Market to buy flowers for Varalakshmi vratham , which will be celebrated on coming Friday. Even as the vendors are at their wits’ end in fixing the price, the customers are seen haggling with traders as prices of chrysanthemum, rose, lily, marigold and jasmine have gone up by many folds due to the high demand.
But the vendors do not budge and the customers content themselves with marigold, sold at ₹50 or ₹60 a kg. The price of roses was just ₹100 to ₹120 a kg, and it rose to ₹160 a kg soon after the onset of the sravana maasam. In the last two days, a quarter kg is sold at a price not less than ₹60 to ₹ 80.
A small pack of southern wood ( davanam ), which used to be sold at ₹5, is now ₹20. Similarly, sweet marjoram ( maruvam ) is ₹10 as against the ₹ 5 it was sold at a fortnight ago.
Several varieties, including roses, are being imported from Bengaluru on a daily basis, while Jasmine and winter jasmine ( jaji ) are from local markets.
S. Appa Rao, a vendor says the firecrackers’ ( kanakambaram ) price is expected to cross ₹600, while the average price of any flower will not be any less than ₹400 a kg in the next two days. The usual demand will be around 600 tonnes a day. But, in view of the festivities, the vendors have placed advance orders. They have invested at least ₹50,000 per quintal for each variety.
