CHENNAI: Rains bring down veggie prices, only at Koyambedu

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on August 27, 2010:

CHENNAI: The unexpected pre-monsoon rains, coupled with a good harvest, have brought the down prices of vegetables at the Koyambedu wholesale market, though the good news for the consumer has failed to translate into lower prices at retail shops across the city.

The cost of vegetables like onions, tomatoes, carrots, beans and green peas has dropped significantly thanks to incessant rains, which have given the growers a sense of optimism.

V R Soundararajan, a member of the Koyambedu Market Management Committee, said unexpected rains in the southern states for the past few weeks have helped the vegetable growers to get a good harvest this time around.

On Thursday, carrots were being sold at Rs 28, beans at Rs 25, green peas at Rs 78, drumsticks at Rs 28 and onions at Rs 13 per kg at Koyembdu market, he said.

Though the prices of most of the highly consumed vegetables had come down from Rs 7 to Rs 10 per kg, it had not reflected in retail sales as P Vanitha, a regular at the Perambur vegetable market pointed out.

“Except for the prices of tomato, which had recorded a drop of about Rs five per kg a few days ago, other vegetables, including onion and carrot still sold at Rs 20 and Rs 40 respectively,” she said.

A few days ago, overcast conditions due to the incessant rains had led to a fall in the prices of all vegetables to a minimum of Rs 8 to Rs 10 per kg.

However, on Thursday, these prices had stabilised.

For the past four months, prices of vegetables had skyrocketed due to unfavourable climatic conditions.

After the arrival of a fresh harvest a few days ago, the rates of vegetables which had initially tumbled, had now stabilised, Soundararajan said.