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Chandigarh: Green chilli rate soars to highest in two years
Price of kitchen staple green chilli shot up to a two-year high of ₹160 earlier this week, before dropping slightly to ₹140 on Saturday.
Amid shortage of supply, price of kitchen staple green chilli shot up to a two-year high of ₹160 this week, before dropping slightly to ₹140 on Saturday.
Compared to ₹50 per kg in mid-January, green chilli’s price had first increased to ₹60 per kg in the second week of February and then rose further to ₹110 per kg towards the end of the month.
As sunny weather resumed in the region in March, the prices of most vegetables stabilised, but that of green chilli skyrocketed to a two-year high of ₹160 per kg on March 2. Though it came down to ₹140 per kg on March 5, it is likely to stay on the higher side even in the coming days.
At the Sector 49 apni mandi, mandi supervisor from Punjab Mandi Board, Harminder Singh said, “Due to shortage of supply, we are getting green chillies from far-off places like West Bengal and Gujarat, but even that supply has slowed down.”
Another mandi supervisor Harpreet Singh added that this was the highest that the price of green chilli had gone ever since the first lockdown in March 2020, when the mandis were closed and vendors were charging as high as ₹200 per kg.
At the Sector 26 wholesale market, auction recorder with the Chandigarh Market Committee, Anil Kumar said, “We were sourcing green chillies from the Howrah region in West Bengal. However, the arhtiyas say due to bad weather, supply from there has also stopped. Produce from other areas is needed to bring down the demand and prices.”
The wholesale rate of green chill ranges between ₹50 and ₹90 per kg.
Meanwhile, prices of other vegetables are seeing a dip. While potato and tomato have been available for ₹15 per kg and ₹20, respectively, for several days, onions are now priced at ₹35 per kg, compared to ₹40 per kg last week.
According to Harpreet, local crop of onions had entered the market, which will help stabilise the prices further in the coming days. The price of cabbage has also decreased from ₹40 to ₹35 per kg and that of peas from ₹50 to ₹45 per kg over the past week.
