With the start of a new year, affordable prices are something that many consumers would look for. For a week now, mixed prices are prevailing in the vegetable markets, as traders say that the price of few vegetables have shot up, while the cost of a few have dropped, and these rates are here to stay for at least another week.
The last week of 2016 saw the price of some vegetables such as onions, beans and broad beans (‘avarakkai’) shoot up due to various reasons, according to A. Balu, president of Vellore Town Nethaji Market Kaikari Vyabarigal Sangam.
“The rates of beans and ‘avarakkai’ have increased in the last two days. This is primarily because the quality of vegetables is good but the supply is less. Many consumers are purchasing the two vegetables and this has hiked the prices. These vegetables are supplied from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,” he said.
From costing ₹10 to ₹15 earlier, the rate of one kilo of beans has doubled to₹30 now, while the price of ‘avarakkai’ has gone up from ₹15 to ₹25.
All is not well with onions too. Mr. Balu said the onions supplied from Andhra Pradesh that were of medium size and even smaller used to be sold for ₹5 or ₹6 in Vellore.
“Now, the supply from AP has stopped, and onions from parts of Maharashtra such as Pune and Ahmednagar have started to arrive. Those procuring the stock have to pay ₹5 per kilo on commission and toll. So, onions are sold at ₹15 to ₹20 to fetch profit,” he said.
He added that it would take at least a week for the price of onions supplied from Maharashtra to stabilise. Drumstick’s rate has also gone up as the mist affected flowering and yield. It was sold for ₹80.
The rate of peas, which are usually priced high, could come as a surprise. The price dropped from ₹80 to ₹25 to ₹30 last week, he said.
While small onions (a kilo) costs ₹20, tomatoes are priced at ₹5 to ₹8. Potatoes cost ₹12 to ₹14, while lady’s finger is priced at ₹25 to ₹30. The local thorny variety of brinjal is priced at ₹30 a kilo, while carrot is sold for ₹10.
The rates of other vegetables are – cabbage – ₹6 to ₹8, ginger – ₹20 to ₹40, snake gourd – ₹12, bitter gourd – ₹15 to ₹20, pumpkin – ₹10, green chillies – ₹20 to ₹30, and coriander (a bunch) – ₹ 25 to ₹30.
Coconut was sold for ₹5 to ₹8 (local), while those from Pollachi cost ₹10 to ₹20. “The same rates will continue for a week,” Mr. Balu said.