Vegetable prices fall, but bad weather may play spoilsport

Pune:

Vegetable prices

fell by close to 20% in the wholesale market a week ago and the retail prices also show a downward trend.

December 2017 recorded higher-than-normal prices in the retail markets as vegetable production had hit rock-bottom last year. However, in January 2018, the prices came down with vegetables being sold at lower-than-normal rates. The biggest drop has been observed in the price of tomatoes, which, on an online portal, are being sold for Rs 11 per kg.

Dilip Khaire, chief administrator of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Pune, said, “Vegetable supplies went up by 25% a week ago, which slashed the prices.”

Claiming that vegetable rates usually dip in the winter, a vendor in Shivajinagar said the prices came down only a few weeks ago. “There has been a delay in price drop this year because of the unseasonal rains in November-December 2017. The rains had damaged vegetables in the fields and it took some time for the supplies to normalize,” he said.

However, the predicted spell of unseasonal rain, hail and thunderstorm is a cause for worry. Khaire said after such weather events, the vegetable prices tend to go up because of damage to standing crops.

Even Arundhati Sharma, a housewife, does not expect the low prices to continue. “As soon as the prices fall, we hear of something or the other that can cause a rise again,” she said.