Steady supply of veggies hits wholesale prices at Koyambedu

CHENNAI: The vegetable prices in the city dipped due to adequate supply from the neighbouring states and Tamil Nadu, thanks to the first crop cultivation that began post-northeast monsoon.

The Koyambedu Wholesale Market has been receiving at least 500-520 vehicles of perishable commodities from last week. So, the rates are expected to be stable until next month, traders said on Monday.

“Usually, the first crop cultivation starts after the northeast monsoon ends because it’d have sufficient water supply, which would boost production. And usually in February, there’d be market shortage in supply, which would push up the prices drastically. But, as the monsoon 2022 was delayed, it impacted production,” said P Sukumaran, secretary, Koyambedu Wholesale Market Merchants.

This year in January, the rates slightly increased, unlike the previous years. And only last week, the market began to receive a sufficient supply of commodities, which resulted in a decrease in prices, which is expected to continue till next month.

“As the second cultivation is expected to begin in March, the yield will decrease. It’d lead to an increase in prices, especially watery vegetables such as bottle gourd, cucumber, chow chow, and radish. For instance, during the first crop cultivation, an acre produced 100 bags of vegetables. But, in the next crop, that’d reduce to 50 bags, and so on,” explained Sukumaran.

Except drumstick and ginger, who prices surged to Rs 70-80 per kg due to supply shortage, prices of all vegetables decreased. Retail traders in the city thronged the Koyambedu market. But there was no big difference in the retail shops; vegetables were sold between Rs 15 and Rs 35 per kg.

“Already, wholesale prices are less compared to last month. To avoid wastage, we sell at the same price, except sometimes, we increase Rs 5-10 for tomatoes, onions, and carrots due to demand among customers,” said K Rajan, a retailer at George Town.