Flower prices rise in Madurai

MADURAI: With just a day left for Vinayaga Chathurthi, prices of flowers, especially jasmine, have shot up in southern districts on Saturday.

According to N Lakshmanan, a retail flower vendor at Mattuthavani market in Madurai, one kg of jasmine was selling at Rs 2,000 on Saturday morning. Last month, Jasmine was priced between Rs 600 and Rs 700 per kg depending on the quality. Other flowers, including ‘pichi poo’ and ‘mullai poo’ are also priced higher than normal at Rs 1,000 and Rs 800 per kg respectively.

“Apart from these items, ‘sampangi poo’ was being sold at Rs 300 per/kg,” said Lakshmanan, who procures flowers from Nilakottai in Dindigul district. A Ramachandran, a wholesale flower seller from Nilakottai, said, “Initially, the price of a kilo of jasmine increased to Rs1,800 at 7.30 am at the , market and as time passed, the rate gradually fell to Rs1,300 at 10 am.

Jasmine’s price doubled when compared to the rates on Friday.

While the price of ‘mullai poo’ went up to Rs 700 per kg against its normal price of Rs150, ‘pichi poo’ was selling at Rs 400 per kg against its average rate of Rs 230.

Meanwhile, A Muthukrishnan, a florist from Thovalai in Kanniyakumari district, said that, unlike Onam and Ayoodha Pooja festivals, there is not much demand for flowers ahead of Chathurthi. During the Onam festival, jasmine fetched Rs 1,000 per kg.