As rain dampens sales in Koyambedu, vegetable prices drop, waste piles up

The market that sees over 5,000 such vendors buying the vegetable produce, saw just about half the original footfall, according to S Chandran, the president of Koyambedu Market Licensed Merchants’ Association.

He said, “The past few days of rain and weather forecast have made the local vendors who buy their stock for sales across the city wary. Rain means wet stock and these could also get spoilt as most who buy from us have stalls on the pavements and in the open. Vendors fearing losses haven’t turned up at the market for the last few days during the rain.” 

He added that the prices of all vegetables have fallen by at least Rs 10- Rs 15 uniformly. “We have to clear the stock and have been selling at a lower price. Still, the waste has been higher than the usual.”

Vegetables like tomatoes and onions that were selling at Rs 20-Rs 25 per kg before the rain have dropped to Rs 15 and Rs 10 respectively. Similarly, lady’s finger at Rs 15 per kg is Rs 10 lesser than usual prices. Chandran also said that even the retail side of the market has been affected by poor sales as regular buyers from the 5 to 10 km radius of the market have stayed back. 

“We have usual buyers from Nerkundram, Anna Nagar and Chinmaya Nagar buying here. These too have not been visiting the market in the past few days,” he said. Even flower prices have dropped, according to sources in the market, while coconut has increased from Rs 20 to Rs 25 with less stock coming to the market. 

The market sees more than 400 truck loads coming from Andhra and Karnataka, apart from a small part from Tamil Nadu. “The stock has been arriving here without fail, even when the business remains dull,” he added.

As much as 200 tonnes of waste is generated at the market and the vendors say that at least 10 per cent more waste would have been added to the normal pile. However, a Market Management Committee official denied that there was any waste. A part of the waste—around 30 tonnes - is fed to the bio gas plant operating on the premises of the market.