With the heavy downpour over the last few days, the retail prices of leafy vegetables have increased drastically, according to the APMC traders.
With leafy vegetables going stale, the sellers are forced to increase their prices. There is, however, no increase in the wholesale prices of vegetables.
“Since we purchase in bulk, it’s after we reach the shops while arranging the vegetables that we find some of them already stale. Due to the rains, the vegetables stay wet and go stale. Also, fewer people are turning up to purchase the vegetables due to the rains. Hence, we have to increase the retail price,” said Suresh Gupta, a retail vegetable seller from Nerul.
Most days, the retailers do not have any leafy vegetables to sell. The very few that are found to be good among the lot get sold in the morning itself. A bunch of spinach, which was priced at around ₹20 per bundle around 10 days back, is now being sold at ₹45 in the retail market. However, the current wholesale price of spinach is ₹10 to ₹12 per bundle.
“I hardly buy a few bunches of palak these days because of the quality. More than half of it goes stale by afternoon. On some days I sell the bunch for ₹40, while on some other days, I sell at ₹45 as well depending on that day’s situation,” Amarnath Shankar, another vegetable seller, said.
While a bunch of coriander costs ₹16- ₹22 in the wholesale market, it has gone up to ₹50 in the retail market. Methi leaves, which cost ₹20- ₹24 per bunch in the wholesale market, cost ₹40 in the retail market.
With the leafy vegetable prices soaring high, the chutney becomes dearer for the residents. “In every quick tiffin idea for children, chutney is a basic item. And, most of the fried snacks require green chutney with them. With the rates going high, the chutney has, for the time being, been limited in our diet,” Sujata D’Souza from Sanpada said.
Prices of other vegetables, too, have increased in the retail market. “Other vegetables, too, at times go stale but the chances of leafy vegetables going stale are more,” Shankar added.
“The wholesale rate has not changed due to the rains. We sell what we get. It is after reaching the retail market that the vegetables are going stale. While transporting the vegetables, they tend to get wet,” Kailash Tajne, APMC market vegetable vendor said.