Numbers, prices, and forecasts in Barranquillita's public market are alarming. Tomato and spring onion have had the greatest variation in price.
Customers are buying less and less when they visit the market.
"People are not buying much because prices are too high," said Nairos Ayala, a store owner.
A 22-kilo box of tomatoes, which used to cost $25,000 pesos is now selling for $80,000 pesos. That is, its price went up 220% in just one week. Scallions, meanwhile, are 257% more expensive. The 30-kilo box was at $28,000 pesos and now it costs $100,000 pesos.
Passion fruit, pomegranates, Creole plums, carrots, and guava fruit are among the most scarce products in the market, so their prices have skyrocketed.
Additionally, since they are perishable products, the few products that arrive in the city have a very short shelf life. "Products are taking too long to arrive, so many spoil quickly," said Alvaro Cantillo, while removing some rotten apples from a shelf in Nairos' store shelves.
Much of these foods come from cities that have been strongly affected by the transporters' strike, such as Bucaramanga (Santander), Cali (Valle del Cauca) and Tunja (Boyaca).
According to Juan Camilo Jaimes, manager of the Caribbean's Central Market, they are undergoing an historic shortage as it's the first time they are truly affected by it.
"This is the first time we've received so little merchandise. There have been other strikes in the country, but let's say that the farmers don't have the financial muscle to stop sales. Now, the food is rotting," said Jaimes.
He said the central market was expecting to receive 960 tons of food yesterday, but that they only received 600. Of that amount, 400 tons should correspond to fruits and vegetables, but they only received 90.
Source: elheraldo.co