Food price rise pushes demand for pre-cooked, ready-to-eat food items

Fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked vegetable and fruit prices by about 300% from the farm to your dining table

Steep rise in prices of fruits and vegetables has resulted in over 55% of middle and low-income group families opting for pre-cooked and ready-to-eat food items to keep the kitchen budget intact, according to a survey.

 

“The fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked the vegetables and fruits prices by 300% from the farm to your dining table,” Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said in a survey on “Rising prices of fruits and vegetables” in which over 5,000 people took part.

 

Over 88% of middle income group (MIG) and lower income group (LIG) find difficult to manage the household budget and squeezing families’ finances to the lowest level due to uncertainty of rains, according to a country-wide survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF).

 

The survey was conducted in major places like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Bangalore and so on. 

 

During the last three years, the salary of average common man has gone up by 10-15% but on the other side the prices of vegetables have also gone up by 250-300%, adds the ASSOCHAM paper.

 

The maximum impact was felt in major cities like Delhi (1st), Mumbai (2nd), Ahmedabad (3rd), Kolkata (4th), Chennai (5th), Hyderabad (6th) and Pune (7th). Around 82% of lower middle class families have been forced to skip or squeezed their budgets for vegetables because of skyrocketing prices.

 

The prices of most of the widely consumed vegetables have shot up during the last two weeks in most parts of the country with the early onset of monsoon rains. The sudden increases of vegetables prices have seriously hit the common men mainly in the metro cities, adds D S Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM.

 

The demand for tomato puree and ketchup are commonly-used commodities due to high fluctuations of market prices of fresh tomatoes. The main categories of packaged food are canned/dried processed food, frozen processed food, meal replacement products and condiments. 

 

The relatively affordable tomatoes, cabbage cauliflower, lady finger and potatoes basic ingredients in most Indian meals are moving away from the middle class family reach as prices continue to soar, adds the paper.