Potato, onion prices touch new high

The sudden increase in the vegetable prices has seriously affected the monthly budget of an average man. During the past ten days, the potato and onion prices have doubled. While the price of onion has increased from Rs 6 to Rs 12 per kg the price of old potato has gone up from Rs 7 a kg to Rs 14 per kg in retail market.

The sudden increase in the vegetable prices has seriously affected the monthly budget of an average man. During the past ten days, the potato and onion prices have doubled. While the price of onion has increased from Rs 6 to Rs 12 per kg the price of old potato has gone up from Rs 7 a kg to Rs 14 per kg in retail market.

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The prices of other vegetables like cauliflower, lady-finger, brinjal, bitter gourd, garlic and ginger have also witnessed sharp rise, with the onset of winter.

During the festival season, the retail rates of new potato was between Rs 10 and Rs 12 per kilogram. But in the start of this week, the retail price of new potato have shot up to Rs 18 to Rs 22 per kg. The prices of old potato also increased to Rs 14 per kg. The retail prices of onion also suddenly increased to Rs 12 per kg due to short supply. The vegetable vendors are selling lady-finger at Rs 12 per kg and small cauliflower at Rs five per piece.

A retail vegetable vendor of Katra market Ram Lal said the production of vegetables have got seriously affected due to floods in Gujarat and Maharashtra, this year. This led to increase in the prices of green vegetables.

Apart from flood-affected states, Punjab and Haryana have also purchased potato from UP, which affected the supply within the State, he said.

However, the wholesale dealers of potato and onion said the situation was expected to become normal within the next 15 days.