Vegetable prices shoot up in North India due to unseasonal showers

NEW DELHI: Vegetable prices have shot up in the wholesale markets of north India in recent days, and are expected to remain firm for some time as unseasonal showers that disrupted supplies are forecast to continue in the weeks ahead.

Prices of spinach, fenugreek (methi) and mustard have more than doubled, while cauliflower, capsicum, brinjal, lady finger and bitter gourd are up 25% in the last few days.

"Prices will remain firm for over a week as supplies have fallen by over 50%,"said Sardar Balbir Singh a trader at the Azadpur mandi of New Delhi. He said prices may rise further as more rainfall is forecast. He said the wholesale price of spinach and fenugreek had jumped to Rs 10 per kg from Rs 3 barely three days ago.

Traders said summer vegetable output may also suffer. Shriram Gadhave, president of All India Vegetable Growers Association, said that vegetable nurseries of tomato, brinjal, chillies, cauliflower, cabbage have been destroyed across Gujarat and Maharashtra.

"The nursery loss will be over 90% and in vegetable — tomato, cabbage, cauliflower loss has been 60%. With increase in humidity, fungal diseases are bound to happen. Any further rains will hamper summer production and raise prices by 15-20%," he said. Traders said that supplies were delayed from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Further, movement of trucks from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharshtra had slowed down.

Retail prices of most vegetable were double of that in wholesale. "Supplies are very less. I was at Ghazipur mandi by 4 am to get vegetables as was unable to do get all varieties on Tuesday," said Sanjay Shah, a street vendor in Patparganj market of Delhi. He added that the prices of potato, tomato and onion were stable.

In Chandigarh, Nanku Ram, a vegetable vendor said fruit quality of pomegranate and oranges has dropped. "I am not getting quality produce to sell. Prices have increased by Rs 20 a kg at Rs 140 a kg for pomegranate to Rs 70 a kg for oranges," he said.

On Wednesday, when retail outlets from Big Bazaar to Reliance offer mid-week sales and offer, the footfalls were higher said marketers at the outlets. Kanchan Seth (55) from Tilak Nagar said that discounts and schemes were attractive for him to come to the retail outlet to get his weekly supplies.

Some officials said retail vegetable prices had not risen as much as wholesale. "Prices of green leafy vegetables like spinach, fenugreek, mustard, bathua, mint, coriander rates are higher by over 40% as crop got damaged by rains. We are working to keep prices under control and expect a drop post Holi," said Pradipta Sahoo, business head (horticulture), Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd.

Some officials said retail vegetable prices had not risen as much as wholesale.

"Prices of green leafy vegetables like spinach, fenugreek, mustard, bathua, mint, coriander rates are higher by over 40% as crop got damaged by rains. We are working to keep prices under control and expect a drop post Holi," said Pradipta Sahoo, business head (horticulture), Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd.

The India Meteorology Department has forecast rain and thundershowers in northern, western and central India in the days ahead because of a western disturbance. Private forecaster Skymet said that the upcoming rain spell from March 7 over hill states will extend into plains on northern and western India on March 8. "Rains will become intense by March 9 and cover more parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and considerably move towards eastwards," said GP Sharma, VP of meteorology at Skymet Weather Services.