Prices of vegetables have shot up in Coimbatore in the last one week mainly because of drop in arrivals.
The prices are high at the wholesale market and it is difficult to get a lot of vegetable varieties, said Palanisamy, who sells vegetables on his two-wheeler.
“Wholesale traders are scared of taking delivery of vegetables as they are not sure if they can sell the entire quantity,” said M. Rajendran, president of the TK Market vegetable traders association. There is a sharp fall in arrivals of vegetables such as bottle gourd, bitter gourd, etc from the villages around Coimbatore. Many of the farmers have suffered crop damage because of the rain. Potato, big onion and small onion are priced at ₹ 40 a kg in the wholesale market, compared to ₹ 20 to ₹ 30 before Deepavali. Carrot costs ₹ 40 a kg, beetroot ₹ 30 a kg, brinjal ₹ 30 to ₹ 60 and drumstick ₹ 120 (wholesale prices).
In several markets across the country, workers have not returned after Deepavali. In some, arrivals have reduced because of the rain. Farmers have also suffered crop damages. All these factors have resulted in lesser arrivals to the Coimbatore wholesale market.
The daily arrivals are just 30 % of what it used to be before the festival, Mr. Rajendran said.
A wholesale onion trader at MGR market added that due to rain there was heavy flow of water into MGR market and vegetables were going waste. This is a matter of concern to the traders, he added.
