Retailers sell veggies at thrice the price

“The sales did not proceed as expected owing to lockdown and only 50 per cent of retailers purchased the items. For the past two weeks, there has also been a lot of wastage due to lockdown and so due to lack of proper sales, prices went down at least by 15 per cent,” said P Sukumaran, treasurer, Koyambedu Wholesale Merchants’ Association.

“Also, majority of our customers are traders from Andhra Pradesh, and they assumed that the commodities would be sold for higher prices due to lockdown. So, we received just 10 per cent of traders from AP,” he added.

Onions were sold for Rs 40 per kg, tomatoes for Rs 30 per kg, beans Rs 35 per kg, broad beans Rs 20 per kg, carrots Rs 60 per kg, potato Rs 20 per kg, and drumstick sold for Rs 150 per kg. Chow-chow, cucumber, and radish were sold below Rs 10 per kg.

Though wholesale prices decreased, retail vendors in the city sold vegetables at thrice the usual price due to the Sunday lockdown. They cliamed sales on last two Sundays were dull and there was more wastage than profit.

“We expected more sales ahead of lockdown for the past two weeks, but that wasn’t the case. This time the purchase stock was reduced but the demand went up escalating the prices 30 per cent and beyond,” said P Kandhasamy, a retail vendor at Anna Nagar. The retailers sold beans and broad beans for Rs 80 per kg, onions for 50 per kg, tomatoes, potatoes for Rs 60 per kg, and carrots for Rs 100 per kg.