Chilli prices have gone up
Posted on: 07/Jul/2016 3:13:00 PM
Traders say that there is an increase in price of chilli peppers due to lack of enough supply in the past two months. Even dhal, tamarind, and mustard prices have gone up. All these together have raised overall price of cooking expenses of south Indian meal.
Chilli price which was between Rs 140 and 170 two months go are now priced Rs 220 to Rs 270. Due to hoarding of stocks, prices have gone up. Traders in small range are cornered to sell with very less margin without wanting to lose their potential customers. Further, chillies we get these days are not of top quality, say traders. There is price hike with several other provision items. They added that they have not been enjoying good sales in the past three months. Due to such hike in price, people have started preferring eating in hotels rather than preparing their own food at home, said a retailer in Velchery.
One of the Choolaimedu resident said price of a kilo of chilli was Rs 170, but the same has now raised up to Rs 270. A price hike of Rs 30 per kg is observed with Bengal gram also called Kadalai paruppu. Urad and Toor dhal are priced Rs 160 per kg. To buy 8 kg of dhal, one needs to spend Rs 1000 on the whole. Price of Tamarind has raised from Rs 130 to 200 per kg. All of these ingredients are required to prepare sambar or dhal that south Indians commonly make at home. The monthly provision expense is nearly Rs 16,000 which consumes a major chunk of monthly income, the resident pointed.
Round chillies are sourced from Ramanathapuram, Vilathikulam and Paramakudi to meet the needs in Tamil Nadu. There is not good crop cultivation in Vilathikulam, and these are smaller in size than usual. By grinding 1 kg of chilli, we get hardly 750 grams of chilli powder. Loads are also received from the Guntur market.
