Most veggies remain dear, coriander price drops

Mumbai: Two days into the statewide farmers’ strike, the price of vegetables continued to remain high in the city’s retail market. The price of most vegetables remained steady with a few exceptions like tomato, capsicum and cucumber, but retailers said that this couldn’t be attributed to the strike. But the biggest surprise was coriander, whose price dropped from Rs 120 to Rs 50 today.

“For two days, customers have been just asking for the price of veggies and going away,” said Sanjit Kumar, a vegetable vendor from Dadar. “The price of chilies, lady finger, beans and green peas is the same as Friday. But the prices of capsicum, tomato and cucumber have shot up today,” said Rajkumar Vaishya, a vegetable vendor from Matunga.

“Usually, during the month of Ramzan, the sale of fruits increases, but due to the recent farmers’ strike, the number of customers has decreased,” said Raees Kureshi, a fruit vendor from Byculla. He further added, “Since the past two days, I and my fellow fruit vendors have not purchased any new stock from the market because of the hefty prices.”  

Prices of spinach, coriander and fenugreek (leaves) have come down. “The bunch of spinach and fenugreek, which I sold yesterday for Rs 50, is now being sold for Rs 30,” said Krishnakumar Yadav, a vendor from Matunga.

Agriculture produce market committee (APMC) of Navi Mumbai, which is the largest market committee of Maharashtra, has seen an increase in the number of trucks of veggies and fruits on Saturday. According APMC officials, numbers of vegetable, fruits and onions trucks have increased as compared to Saturdaya.

“The milk supply to Mumbai and throughout Maharashtra remained unaffected on Saturday. We have reached the sufficient level of milk supply in the state,” said Deputy Commissioner of Dairy Development. “Had we not had enough supply of milk on Saturday, it would have been an issue, but it was averted by proper supply,” he added.