The burgeoning domestic and export demand for the Teja variety of red chilli, famous for its culinary, medicinal and other wide-ranging uses, pushed up the price of the pungent fruit at Khammam Agriculture Market, housing Telangana's second largest chilli market yard, here.
According to the market sources, the Teja variety of red chilli commanded a price of ₹ 16,500 - ₹ 17,000 per quintal in the market on Thursday, fetching a relatively better price for the sellers, mostly comprising the traders and big farmers those, who stocked the commodity in cold storage units in Khammam division. Last week, the red chilli commanded a high price in the range of ₹ 20,000 per quintal when the demand for the commodity in the domestic and international market suddenly surged owing to a combination of factors, mainly the short supply of red chillies from Madhya Pradesh due to heavy rains.
The upswing in the prices of red chillies, driven by the spurt in demand for the commodity from various south Asian countries including China, failed to benefit small and medium chilli growers as they had sold their produce to traders during the last harvesting season that coincided with the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, sources said. The traders and a handful of big farmers, who stocked the commodity in cold storages, are now reaping the benefits of the surge in demand for red chilli, sources added.
Red chilli was cultivated in about 52,000 acres in the last crop season (rabi) in the district, known as the largest producer of chilli in the State. So far in the current kharif season, chilli seedlings were transplanted in about 53,000 acres across the district. Officials of the Horticulture Department expect the area under chilli cultivation to increase by another 7,000 acres this season considering the suitable agro-climatic conditions and the prevailing remunerative prices.