Hyderabad: This summer, the king of fruits could leave many disappointed given a 50 per cent drop in arrival of mangoes in the city’s markets.
This in turn is likely to make buying mangoes a costly affair with the prices being higher due to low supply of the fruit. There will probably be a shortage of mangoes in the coming days as well, following lower yields this season.
One of the busiest and biggest fruit markets in the State, the Kothapet Fruit Market, has been receiving mangoes since the last few days. The loads of mango coming to market in Gaddiannaram are less than 3,000 quintals, which is inadequate to cater to the demand in the city.
Praveen Reddy, secretary, Agricultural Market Committee, Kothapet, said that by this time, the market usually used to receive at least 5,000 quintals daily. However, the arrivals have dropped to 2,500 quintals to 3,000 quintals a day.
“The mango flowering process which happens in winter, followed by ripening of fruits was affected by the unusual weather in Andhra Pradesh, which is a major source of mangoes for Hyderabad. We expect the mango arrivals to improve by April,” he said.
Hyderabad receives mangoes from different parts of Krishna, Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Anantapur districts. The popular ones, however, are those coming from Nuzvid and Mylavaram. The varieties of mangoes including Benishan, Totapari, Himayat and Dasheri are the ones that are usually seen in the city markets.
According to Market Committee officials, grade I mangoes at the Kothapet Fruit Market, which supplies fruits to the rest of the city were priced at Rs 6,000 per quintal, while grade II mangoes were available at Rs 3,500 per quintal.
According to traders, mangoes from Kothapet were also transported to other parts of the country like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from mangoes, the market is getting adequate loads of grapes, watermelons, muskmelons, mosambi, apples and bananas.
On the other hand, fruit sellers in different parts of the city are quoting the price of mangoes between Rs 150 to Rs 200 per kg based on the quality. Vendors said that prices could come down when the city gets adequate arrivals, which is expected towards the end of April.
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