Vegetable prices in the city have once again shot up due to the heavy rainfall in the last few weeks in the vegetable growing regions of the State, including Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagaram districts that are major suppliers of vegetables and fresh greens to the city.
Supply has taken a serious hit, while demand continues to be high due to the ongoing season of festivals and functions. The availability of green leafy vegetables has especially been greatly affected, as the rains destroyed crops and also affected the quality of the crop that could be harvested.
A bunch of coriander is priced at ₹80 to ₹90 at many retail stores, while fenugreek and spinach have also touched close to ₹30 per bunch. On the wholesale front, coriander is priced at ₹200 per kg while fenugreek has risen from ₹80 to ₹180 per kg.
At retail markets, the price of beans has almost tripled from ₹30 per kg last week to ₹80 this week. This has been followed by tomatoes, which went up from ₹18 per kg to ₹34 this week.
Carrots, drumsticks, and potatoes are some of the other vegetables which have seen a price rise.
“There’s a lot of shortage of green vegetables like coriander, fenugreek, mint, and spinach. Beans are also in short supply. The prices of commonly used everyday vegetables are touching the sky as they spoil very quickly due to the damp conditions everywhere,” said Venkatesh, a mandi manager in Kalasipalya wholesale market.
Observing the trends, the traders said that the prices will keep increasing as the Dasara and Deepavali festivals are coming up soon.
“For various reasons, the prices of vegetables have been on the rise these days. A bunch of coriander leaves is ₹80 near my house and a kg of beans also cost the same. It is not possible for us to skip vegetables as vegetarians,” said Shashikala R., a resident of Amruthahalli.
Onion traders depend on stock from Maharashtra
The rains have also damaged onions in the State. However, this has not caused much difference in prices, as stock from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh is coming in regularly.
“Onion growers in Maharashtra have gotten good prices for two years and hence they have taken to the crop in large numbers this year too. They have also set up good infrastructure to store the bulbs. In Karnataka, the situation is such that farmers cannot even step into the fields. On top of this, the government has bought a significant amount from farmers for lower prices. Due to this, the supply chain is balanced for now, but if it rains continuously again, then the prices might increase,” said Ravi, an onion trader at APMC, Yeshwanthpur. The price is currently at ₹20 per kg.
Rice gets expensive
In just a week to 10 days, the price of rice has gone up in retail stores. The traders attribute the rise to the levying of GST on rice bags. The GST Council recently levied 5% GST on pre-packed and labelled food items up to 25 kg.
The price of a kilogram of Sona Masuri rice has gone from ₹42 to ₹52 and Kollam rice has also touched ₹50 per kg from the earlier ₹40. “The trader told me that whatever GST is levied upon a bag of rice, is being transferred accordingly to each kilogram,” said a customer in Hanumantha Nagar.
