Thousands of people thronged K.R. Market, Gandhi Bazaar and Malleswaram on Thursday, the eve of the Varamahalakshmi. The high demand for fruits and flowers saw prices skyrocket over the last two days, but expensive produce and even a spate of heavy rain on Thursday afternoon did not deter shoppers. In fact, many buyers managed to get hefty discounts once the rain began.
“The prices of fruits and flowers have been higher than the average. In some cases, these had more than doubled ahead of the festival. Jasmine buds and crossandra saw the highest spike in prices.
Across markets, crossandra, which usually retails for ₹400-500 a kg was selling for ₹1,800- 2,000 a kg. However, the prices did dip at K.R. market when it started to rain.
“The rain spoilt it for us today. The price of jasmine buds which we sold for around ₹800-1,000 in the morning dropped to ₹250 a kg due to the rain,” said K.M. Diwakar, president, K.R. Market Flower Vendors’ Association.
Vendors said that owing to the rains across the State in the past three to four days, the price of chrysanthemum had drastically fallen. A vendor pointed out that the flowers had gotten spoilt.
Apart from flowers, banana leaves and banana trees were also in huge demand. A single banana leaf was being sold for as high as ₹15 in some shops.
“It is natural for the prices of fruits and flowers to be high during festivals ,” said Chandrakiran G, a buyer at K.R. Market. “In festival seasons, people are generally ignorant of the price and buy them at available rates,” said a vendor at the market. Flower sellers predict another spike in prices ahead of Krishnsa Janmastami which falls on August 23 and Ganesha Chaturti on September 2.