Winter chill brings down vegetable prices

APMC traders attribute the 10-30 per cent reduction in prices to the drop in temperatures which has led to an optimum harvest and good supply of green peas

Winter chill brings down vegetable prices

The recent dip in temperatures has not only brought some respite to Mumbaikars from the sweltering heat but has also provided some relief as it has caused a decrease in the prices of vegetables by 10 to 30 per cent as compared to last month’s prices.

Veggie delight: Yesterday, the APMC market received over 600 trucks of vegetables including 60 trucks supplying only green peas. Representation pic

The Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) officials and traders claim the chill in the air has led to an optimum harvest of vegetables owing to which the prices have fallen. Additionally, they said that the good supply of green peas has led to the decline of prices.

Yesterday, the APMC market received over 600 trucks of vegetables including 60 trucks supplying only green peas. Avinash Patil, deputy secretary of the APMC market, said, “The supply of vegetables has increased in the last few days as the chill in the air has led to optimum harvest of vegetables.”

He added, “We have seen a huge harvest of green peas this year that has further led to the decrease in the prices of other vegetables. The prices will remain low for the next few days too.”

Traders at the markets too anticipate that the prices will remain low till the end of January.

The price of cabbage and cauliflower, which sold at Rs 30-50 for 10 kgs in November, has fallen to Rs 20-40 for 10 kgs on Tuesday. Similarly, prices of brinjal fell from Rs 80-160 to Rs 50-70 for 10 kg.

Surprisingly, prices of okra have risen from Rs 80-120 to Rs 300-320 on Tuesday despite the optimum harvest.

Explaining the price rise, Kanhaiyyalal Seth, an exporter of vegetables, said, “In the export business, Lady’s finger is most in demand. Due to high production cost and demand in export, price of lady’s finger must have gone up despite the optimum harvest.”u00a0

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