Prices of most vegetables come down

VILLUPURAM: After ruling high for over a month, prices of most vegetables have dipped in the city.
But staple vegetables such as onion, potato and tomato still cost comparatively more than the other vegetables at the Koyambedu wholesale market. While onion and potatoes are priced between Rs.12 and Rs.13 a kg, tomatoes cost Rs.10 to Rs.12.
Green peas are sold at a relatively high price of Rs.50 per kg. Butter beans cost Rs.70 a kg, the high cost being attributed to a poor yield in Udhagamandalam. Vendors at the market said the prices of these vegetables might not come down until next month when the harvest season would begin.Silver lining
The silver lining, however, is that the prices of most common vegetables have come down from the levels in June. The selling price of beans at Koyambedu has declined to Rs.15 from Rs.20; carrots and lady’s fingers also cost less now at Rs.16 and Rs.7 per kg from Rs. 25 and Rs. 9 respectively.
The price of green chillies has also dropped to Rs.8 from Rs.15 a kg.
There is a slight decrease in the prices of bitter gourd, drumstick and yam, which are now selling at Rs.8 per kg. Cauliflower, which was sold at Rs.15 a few days ago, is sold at more than half the price, at Rs.6.
Brinjal appears to be the most popular and cheapest vegetable now with the sales touching around 150 tonnes every day. It is priced between Rs.7 and Rs.8 a kg. Vendors noted that the price would further dip to Rs.3 per kg next week with bulk supplies expected from Andhra Pradesh.
Koyambedu MMC Licence Holders Merchants Association secretary V. R. Soundararajan said that the cost of some vegetables such as lady’s finger and snake gourd had dropped as their arrivals from other parts of the State had improved. Tindivanam, Villupuram, Gummidipoondi and Tiruvallur are some of the locations from where these vegatables come.
The wholesale price drop is also reflected in the retail market with the prices of some vegetables, including beans (Rs.18) and brinjal (Rs.16) being less than the previous month’s rates. However, the cost of carrot was relatively higher at Rs.32 per kg. Potatoes and tomatoes were priced at Rs.18 a kg.
Among fruits, mangoes have given way to oranges. The fruit of the season is flooding the wholesale market and selling at Rs.12 a kg (wholesale) and at Rs.20 to Rs.25 (retail).