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All over India, prices are skyrocketing and traders are blaming everything from rising transportation costs to distress sales of damaged crops after Cyclone Yaas.
According to a West Bengal vendor, says jackfruits are now Rs 60/kg, a good Rs 10 dearer than they were two weeks ago and way costlier than the price in 2020. “Wholesalers say many jackfruit trees fell during the recent cyclones and so this year overall production has been less,” he said.
One customer said his shopping expenditure had nearly doubled in the past couple of weeks. “One cannot stop eating so we are being forced to spend nearly double.”
An owner of a vegetable stall in CA Market blamed the middlemen. “Customers are blaming us for the hike in prices but it’s actually middlemen who are raking in huge profits,” he said. “They buy at much lower prices as there are several fields that had been flooded due to Cyclone Yaas but are still selling to them to us at a premium.”
The government trucks, however, have stable prices. “Even if the market rate for potatoes is Rs 26 we continue to sell at Rs 14. Our prices are subsidised. In fact, our demand jacks up whenever prices in the free market rise,” said a vendor at Baisakhi Market. “Since it’s not season for Simla apples yet, we are depending on imported ones from New Zealand, selling at Rs 200 a kilo.”
[ Rs 100 = €1.10 ]
Source: telegraphindia.com
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
