Flowers sold at low price to avoid waste in Koyambedu

CHENNAI: To reduce wastage of flowers, traders at Koyambedu wholesale market were forced to sell flowers at lower prices. Despite this, they fear that there will be several kilos of flowers leftover.

With Aadi month and temple festivals coming to an end, it had affected brisk business of flowers at the market. The rates have drastically decreased which led to poor sales at the market.

“Earlier, we used to dump tonnes of flowers every day due to lack of sales in the market. It has been a loss for both traders and farmers post pandemic. During festivals or marriage season, there’d be a brisk sale, if not it will be thrown away,” said S Mookandi, secretary, Koyambedu Flower Merchants Association.

He added that all flowers are sold at the lowest price to avoid wastage. “Unless flowers are in bad shape due to the rains, we don’t dump them. The wastage has drastically decreased in the market in recent times,” he pointed out

“For over 2 years, sale was dull for Vinayaka Chaturthi. But this year, with no restrictions, we hope the prices will rise and there will be a brisk sale. Supply will surge from next week for the festival season,” said K Edaiyappan, a wholesaler.