Pongal festival: Short supply of flowers impacts demand in Tiruchy

TIRUCHY: Prices of flowers soared high due to short supply and high demand at Gandhi market here ahead of the Pongal festival and the traders claimed that the prices would not come down for at least a week.

The flower prices were nominal till Sunday and they picked up on Monday as ‘malligai’ sold at Rs 2,200 per kg while ‘mullai’ at Rs 2,000 per kg and ‘jathi malli’ at Rs 1,500 per kg, which was around 50 per cent higher than the previous week.

Flowers are brought to Tiruchy from the interior parts of Tiruchy, Dindigul, Perambalur, Theni and Coimbatore regions. However, since there was severe cold weather for the past few weeks, flower production was affected in the regions. Despite there being a high demand for flowers as the Pongal festival arrived, the traders could not procure adequate quantities of flowers due to short supply.

This has manifold the price of flowers. The traders from Tiruchy said, last week, ‘malligai’ was sold at Rs 1,400 per kg while ‘mulai’ was 1,100 per kg and ‘jathi malli’ at Rs 800 per kg, but this week, the prices went up between Rs 600 and 800 per kg.

“We are still not able to meet the demand as the cultivation of flowers was affected due to the uncertain weather that continued all through the months of Karthigai and Margazhi,” said Malli Sekar, a flower trader in Gandhi Market.

Meanwhile, the other articles like earthen pots were sold between Rs 100 and 350, sugarcane Rs 80 per pair and turmeric Rs 20 to 50 while the prices of bananas were sold at Rs 80 per bunch.