Rains bring down prices of flowers

PUNE: The soaring wholesale prices of flowers in the Market Yard reduced on Thursday due to heavy rains in Mumbai as customers from areas like Kalyan and Thane were not able to purchase the flowers. 

This resulted in the excess stock due to which the prices of aster, chrysanthemums, roses, etc, went down.

“Due to heavy rainfall in Mumbai, prices of flowers went down on Thursday as compared to Wednesday as a lot of customers from Kalyan and Thane did not turn up to purchase flowers. The price of ‘shevanti’ (chrysanthemum) which was around Rs 200 per kg on Wednesday came down to Rs 150 per kg on Thursday. Similarly, the price of roses was reduced from Rs 150 per bundle (20 roses) to Rs 130. Aster prices have also been reduced from Rs 50 per kg on Wednesday to Rs 40 per kg on Thursday,” said Arun Veer, President of Akhil Pune Flower Market Aadte Association, Market Yard.

Till Wednesday, the prices of flowers were soaring with the wholesale prices of flowers like marigold (genda), rose, aster, etc, shot up by 30 per cent as compared to last year. 

Wholesalers in Pune said that this was mainly due to high demand and supply being affected by the uneven distribution of rainfall across the State.

Sagar Bhosale, a wholesale trader of flowers at Market Yard, said, “The recent floods in Kolhapur and Sangli affected the supply of flowers by 30 per cent. There is hardly any supply of flowers from there.”

He said a special variety of marigold called ‘Kolkata Yellow’ was sold at Rs 100 per kg at the wholesale market.

“The prices are still high as compared to last year’s Ganesh festival due to less supply of flowers. Prices of Aster and Shevanti, which were around Rs 100 per kg and Rs 20 per kg respectively last year, had increased due to low supply this year,” added Veer.

The retail prices of these flowers are still high as compared to last year. Praveen Kure, a flower vendor near Mahatma Phule Mandai, said, “Last year, the retail price of marigold was around Rs 100 per kg, while it has hiked up by Rs 200 per kg this year.” 

He added that the prices of shevanti and aster flowers have increased by 50 per cent as they are Rs 300 per kg and Rs 600 per kg respectively.

“A lot of flowers available in the market are also not of good quality due to the excessive rains in some parts of the State. Good quality flowers are less in supply and are expensive,” said Vishal Khaire, another flower vendor from Shukrawar Peth.

While floods caused havoc in the flower market in some parts of the State, low rainfall in some flower farming areas has also affected the overall supply. “Aster usually comes from Ahmednagar and Alandi. However, due to low rainfall in Ahmednagar and high rainfall in Alandi this year, the supply has been hit,” Veer said.