Veggie prices: No respite till Pongal?

CHENNAI: The increase in prices of vegetables such as brinjal, ladies finger, drumstick, tomatoes, beans and carrots in the retail market has jeopardised family budgets. This comes in the wake of a price rise in cooking gas cylinder.Tomatoes, which are priced at Rs 80 to Rs 90 at the wholesale market, is sold at Rs 120 by retailers. Brinjal is being sold at Rs 100 and above by retailers and is available at Rs 70 to Rs 80 at wholesale. Drumstick, a key ingredient in sambar, is now sold at a record price of Rs 270 per kg. 

President of Koyambedu Vegetable Wholesale Merchants Association, S Chandran said drumstick is not available in southern States since it is procured from northern States where the price is hovering above Rs 200. The freight charges to bring it to Chennai has resulted in pricing it above Rs 250, he says. So has the price of ladies finger, which is selling above Rs 120 in the retail market. While wholesale market traders claim the vegetable is priced at Rs 60 to Rs 80 a kilogram, it is rare to find in the retail market. “The availability of the crop is less, so the price is more,” says Chandran.Traders warn there won’t be any respite in prices until Pongal festival, be it rain or no rain. 

What’s surprising the customer is that prices of several vegetables have shot above Rs 50 and some above Rs 100 in the retail market. Even cabbage, which is sold around Rs 10 to Rs 20 in wholesale, is priced in the range of Rs 40. Traders squarely blame the rains for the inflation. They claim that the price will reduce slowly with the availability of fresh crops in January. The price rise has impacted not only households but also hotels. Some have removed tomato rice and tomato chutney from their menu.

Households now use tamarind instead of tomatoes. A housewife said they now buy vegetables in grams. A house which used 2 kg of tomatoes a week is now surviving on 500 grams. Owner of Vasanta Bhavan chain of restaurants, M Ravi, said they use 16 vegetables usually for aviyal but have now cut it down to 10. “The State government should intervene. They should also look at setting up cold storage chains to store tomatoes and other vegetables,” says Ravi.