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Pune wholesalers suffers as flower rates heavily slashed
PUNE: With excessive intake of flowers in the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the market yard is seeing flower rates down by 90% this Ganesh festival as compared to the corresponding period last year
PUNE: With excessive intake of flowers in the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the market yard is seeing flower rates down by 90% this Ganesh festival as compared to the corresponding period last year.
Last year, flowers such as marigold, shevanti (Chrysanthemum) and hibiscus commonly used during the 10-day festival fetched very good rates (see box). Buoyed by this, many farmers opted to farm flowers. Add good climatic conditions and a majority of these farmers witnessed a bumper production which in turn led to heavy slashing of prices.
Arun Veer, Pune Flower Traders’ Union president, APMC market yard, said, “Last year, farmers received very good rates for marigold and shevanti. But the trend this year has been the opposite. Rates have fallen so sharply that farmers have been unable to earn even their carriage expenses.”
Last year due to Covid, the market was not completely open helping farmers fetch very high rates. This year, flower stock has come in from across the district which was not the case last year.
“If one farmer grows marigold, others will follow. This is a major problem as farmers tend to produce the same flower. This year, there was a 20% rise in production of marigold and shevanti,” Veer said.
Stable rates for polyhouses
Meanwhile, prices of poly house flowers such as rose and gerbera have remained stable.
“Gerbera flowers are mostly used in decoration and every year, their rate rises but with most of the mandaps opting for sober decoration, these flowers are not in high demand,” Veer said.
On Sunday, there was a good demand for flowers in wholesale as well as retail markets.
“We feared that marigold would go to waste but today, the complete stock of marigold in the Rs15 per kilogramme category was sold out,” Veer added.
High rates in retail
The downfall in rates has given good profit to retailers, with each area in the city selling flowers at different rates.
“More profit is earned by makeshift flower shops as they put up stalls only during the festive season while those who have permanent flower shops don’t earn more profit,” added Veer.
In Kothrud, marigold flowers were sold at Rs70 per kilogram on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“Flower prices remain high for 10 days during Lord Ganesh’s arrival followed by Gauri pujan – for flower sellers, this is the best time to earn a profit and a majority of them have fixed rates,” said Ketan Gund, Shivtirth nagar, Kothrud.
Vikas Gore, owner of Pushpak Florals, said, “If any customer demands more than 2kg flowers, we give them a discount otherwise the rates remain the same for all.”
Madhukant Garad Administrator & Secretary, APMC Gultekadi Market Yard Pune, said, “Higher cultivation of flowers and larger supply resulted in slashing of rates. Rates are expected to become stable in the coming days.”
