Unseasonal rain pushes up prices of vegetables

Prices of some green vegetables at the Azadpur wholesale market in Delhi were on the rise on Tuesday because of the unseasonal rain, but there was no overall spike in prices yet.

Data from the Delhi Agriculture Board and Agmarket.nic.in, which function under the department of agriculture, showed the impact was more on green, leafy vegetables, which are difficult to store and extremely perishable, than in others.

The wholesale price of methi has moved up by around 27 per cent since Monday and was selling at Rs 1,900 per quintal in the market on Tuesday. That of coriander had moved up around 25 per cent between Monday and Tuesday and was selling at Rs 1,000 a quintal. Cauliflower, another crop which can rot due to prolonged exposure to moisture, was selling at Rs 740 per quintal in Azadpur on Tuesday, around 53.5 per cent more than Monday. However, traders said the price rise in cauliflowers could also be because of usual end-of-season decline in supplies.

The data also showed between Monday and Tuesday, tomatoes have become costlier by almost five per cent, as were wet peas and green chilies.

“Only in commodities, which are extremely perishable, some rising trend in prices was seen, while arrival and prices of most other commodities remained stable,” a senior trader from the Azadpur mandi said.

He said the full impact of damage due to unseasonal rain on prices of vegetables and fruits would only be known in the next few days as, usually, farmers have some sort of storage. “It has to be seen how much has been the actual damage to vegetable crops and that can be known only in the next few days when water recedes from fields and farmers assess their loss,” the trader said.

Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lashed several parts of North, Central and Western India since late last week causing damage to the standing wheat, mustard, chana and vegetable crops.

In western India, the impact was widely felt on jeera and coriander. Gujarat and Maharashtra have also seen damage to mango. February is a flowering season and progress on this front has been lost due to untimely rain. The mango season is likely to be delayed.

Officials said yields of wheat crop, sown on time, might drop 10-20 per cent. Heavy rains continued to lash most parts of Punjab and Haryana.

Punjab had received an average rainfall of 34 mm with maximum rainfall witnessed in Ropar (73 mm), Patiala (57 mm) Mohali (65 mm), NawanShahar (66mm) and Tarn Taran (43 mm) between Saturday and Monday.