Vegetable supply dips, prices soar in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The yawning gap between demand and supply owing to severe destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan has led to scarcity of vegetables in some city markets and almost doubled prices. Even though the supply chain issues of the vegetable transportation were largely resolved after removal of uprooted trees, drop in production has dried up the wholesale and retail markets in the city. For other daily necessities like bread, the supply of which had stopped temporarily due to Eid, is likely to resume from Wednesday.
On Tuesday, vegetable supply to Koley Market — the largest vegetable wholesale hub in the city — dropped from 350 trucks a day to 70 trucks. Bengal was largely immune to lockdown price rise in vegetables, thanks to its bumper production so far, this year. But Amphan changed the scenario and much of the agricultural land in the state is under water now. Wholesalers and retailers, wary of a lower production, feared a high price in the days to come. “In coming days, prices of vegetables will rise further with supply continuing to be scant,” said Kamal Dey, president West Bengal Vendors Association.

“For vegetables like beans, capsicum and drumsticks that are imported from other states, prices are almost stable. It has been a disaster for the vegetable grown within the state,” said Anup Gupta, a wholesaler at Koley market. Over the past one week, vegetables brought from places like Ranchi, Nasik and Coimbatore have increased by Rs 5-10 a kilo. “Wholesale prices for beans or capsicum, imported from Ranchi and Nasik, have increased by Rs 5-10 per kilo. But for the vegetable grown within the state prices have gone haywire,” Gupta said.
At retail markets, almost all vegetables were sold above Rs 40 a kilo. Prices of parwal, tomato, bitter gourd, cucumber, ridged gourd, papaya, bottle gourd, pumpkin, brinjal have been rising steadily. Cauliflower was sold at Rs 60 a piece. “This will remain like this for next one month, it seems. Around 11.30am on Tuesday, there was not a single vegetable left at Koley market. We haven’t seen such scarcity before,” said Kartik Saha, a vegetable retailer in Maniktala.
“Vegetables like cucumber will not be available for some time. Whatever little we are getting at the wholesale market is being sold at a huge premium,” said Dilip Mandal, a vegetable retailer at Gariahat.
Fruit markets are also witnessing a scarcity. “The sudden supply of mangoes in local markets is due to distress sale by some farmers. It will dry out in a few days,” said Shahjada Alam, a vendor at College Street. “There is demand of 10-12 lakh pound bread in Kolkata per day. Due to lockdown, we are able to supply half of it. The supply constraint on Tuesday morning was due to closure of some bakeries for Eid,” said Idris Ali, secretary of Joint Action Committee of West Bengal Bakers’ Association.