Demonetisation: Vegetables find few buyers in major <i>mandis</i>

Being highly perishable the produce is being sold in credit; prices decline on reduced number of buyers

Vegetable markets across the nation have few takers and surplus vegetables are being dumped wherever possible. Prices in mandis have crashed because traders do not have money. Trade on credit worked for a few days, but farmers are now demanding cash. 

Business Standard visited the major mandis in the country and the story was more or less the same--arrivals as usual, no takers and prices falling. 

Mumbai: Traders and stockists have started paying farmers 5% in cash and the rest by cheque or bank transfer. Farmers with no bank accounts are being helped to open them to receive money. Traders are also advising  farmers to go slow in harvesting perishables.

“Arrivals of vegetables are normal with around 550 trucks coming in daily but only 60-70% of the produce is sold as money is not available with wholesalers,” said Shankar Pingle, president of the Vegetable Traders Mahasangh. Brinjal was trading at Rs 600-800 a quintal on Thursday against Rs 500-700 a week ago. By contrast, okra has slumped to Rs 1,800-2,400 a quintal from Rs 2,400-2.600. In the Navi Mumbai fruit market, a trader said fruits were being stored in cold chains due to their relatively high value.

Sharad Maru, president of the Grain, Rice and Oilseeds Merchants Association, said, "Business in the grain mandi is 40% lower than what it was before November 8.”

New Delhi: Azadpur mandi wears as deserted look and trading is halved. Trade has virtually come to a halt in all other neighbouring mandis, including those in Baghpat, Meerut and Hapur.

Thursday’s decision to allow APMC traders to withdraw up to Rs 50,000 in week and farmers up to Rs 25,000 will benefit small traders who deal in vegetables like spinach, coriander, lemon and chilies. Traders in potatoes and onions need more cash. “Farmers bring produce worth more than Rs 1 lakh a day and the relaxation is not of much use,” said Mahendra Sanpal, director of the Azadpur APMC. “Around 200 trucks of potatoes used to arrive daily, this has fallen to half,” said Trilokchand, a potato wholesaler.

Chennai: Footfalls have halved in Koyambedu, business has declined and most vegetables are going into the dumping yard. Daily sales have dropped to Rs 2-3 crore from Rs 6-7 crore, according to traders. 

Price of vegetables had plunged by 50% to their lowest in the past decade, said S Chandran, president of the Koyambedu Licensed Wholesale Vegetable Merchants Association. Supply had fallen from 600 trucks daily to less than half, said G Raja, a shopkeeper. 

Most vegetables are priced Rs 10 a kg. Capsicum, which used to sell at Rs 50-60 a kg is now Rs 15-20. Tomato is being sold at Rs 6 per kg. The price of tomatoes fell to Rs 3 per kg in Theni and Rs 8 in Madurai. 

Marigolds have fallen from Rs 60 a kg to Rs 10. Cut flowers, used in weddings, hotels and shops, are selling for Rs 10 a kg.

Ahmedabad: Arrivals of vegetables at Jamalpur have not been affected but demand has declined by over 60%, according to Pranav Bhagat, a local trader.  Prices of brinjals, green chillies, carrots and cabbages have decreased from Rs 12-15 per kg to Rs 2-5 per kg in the wholesale market.

Kolkata:  Business is down for most vendors of perishables like vegetables and fish.  Sheikh Hanib used to sell 200 kg of cucumbers every day, he is now selling 30-35 kg. “Wholesale traders are extending credit, which has eased the situation,’’ he said. 

Till last week, Manua Sahu, who stocks fish for sale to retailers on credit, was selling around Rs 40,000 a day. This has come down to less than Rs 10,000. “We have stopped taking fresh supplies, as the stock was rising,” Sahu said. 

“A large number of farmers are unable to buy seeds with sowing just 10 days away,” said Patit Paban Deb, who owns a cold storage on the outskirts of Kolkata. 

Bangalore: Traders in Yeshwantpur have seen vegetable prices drop by a third since the demonetisation. "I used to do a daily business of Rs 1,000, now it is Rs 500. It will be the like this the entire month," said Fayaz, a vegetable seller. "I have to spend an entire day to get money from the bank. People come with Rs 500 or Rs 1,000. We do not have change," said Lakshmamma, another vegetable seller.  

Bhopal: Some farmers are still accepting old Rs 500 and 1,000 currency notes. “Prices of vegetables have declined by 10-15%. A few farmers who sell in Nav Bahar Sabji Mandi are accepting old currency notes,” said Saleem of Abdul Kadar Mohammad Saleem & Co, a wholesale dealer in the mandi.

Prices of potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower and okra have declined from last week. Arrivals have fallen from 50 trucks to 25-30. 

With contributions by Dilip K Jha, Sanjeeb Mukherjee, T E Narsimhan, Vimukt Dave, Namrata Acharya, Alnoor Peermohamed, Anita Babu and Shashikant Trivedi

 

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