Guntur: High veggie prices burn hole in pockets of consumers

GUNTUR: The soaring temperatures in Guntur has spiked up the prices of vegetables, burning a hole in the pockets of consumers and taking a toll on the household budgets. The heat-wave-like conditions have severely affected the production of various vegetables.

Due to lack of supply, the prices of beans, bottle gourd, chillies, brinjal, okra, tomatoes, and other vegetables have increased two-fold in the last ten days at Rythu Bazaars. As many as 11 Rythu Bazaars are present in the district including six in Tenali, three in Guntur, one each in Mangalagiri, and Ponnuru.

Most of the stock to these Rythu Bazaars arrives from Nara Koduru, Suddapalli, Kolakaluru, Nandivelugu, Vetapalem, Manchikalapudi, Ponnuru, and Jampani areas.

“Even though we are bringing the stock early in the morning, the vegetables are becoming stale within a few hours due to hot winds. Due to this, the customers are not buying in high amounts, as a result, we are not getting any profits. We are fearing that this situation might continue until the temperatures drop a bit,” the traders rued.

Beans topped the chart with a retail price of Rs 183 per kg which was sold at Rs 75 per kg, ten days back. Similarly, the prices of mint and coriander leaves also climbed up on the price chart in the last couple of weeks.

Summer also led to a rise in the demand and prices of lemons, which people consume in various ways during the hot months.

The lemons which were sold at Rs 3 each are now being sold at Rs 5 per piece. The price of ridge gourd doubled in the last week and is being sold at Rs 54 per kg. Along with this, the prices of potato, cucumber, carrot and bitter gourd also hiked.

Meanwhile, the outside market traders who buy these and sell them at higher prices of Rs 10 to Rs 20 per kg after calculating the vehicle rental, bundle charges, and profit. The higher prices made people become more selective when it comes to buying vegetables.