Majority of vegetables’ price in pole vault mode

KATHMANDU: The price of vegetables like potato, cucumber, tomato, garlic and ginger increased by 25 per cent in comparison to last month. However, the decrease in the price of some other vegetables may have provided relief to consumers this season.

“The price of potato has increased from Rs 70 to Rs 85 per kg this month whereas garlic has reached Rs 100 per kg and ginger Rs 75 per kg,” said Sunti Shrestha, a vegetable dealer

at Kalimati, who has been in

this business for 10 years.

She added that rainfall has increased the production of green vegetables but some of the

vegetables are in short supply due to the off-season.

The price of green vegetables has dropped tremendously compared to the previous month.The major reason for this drop is the rainfall that has occurred after a long drought. Cabbagde price has gone down sharply. It is Rs 35 per kg whereas it was Rs 50 the previous month.

“There is limited profit in vegetables as these are perishable goods and have to be sold as soon as possible,” vendor

Laxmi Rana said adding that it is a false opinion that the vendors are responsible for fake shortage of vegetables in the market.

She added that they have been selling vegetables at a very

nominal profit.

Meanwhile, the price of some vegetables like tomato has skyrocketed from Rs 30 to Rs 40, onion from Rs 18 to Rs 25 and garlic from Rs 60 to 100. On the other hand, the price of green vegetables like bitter gourd, cabbage, cauliflower, French bean, capsicum, brinjal, radish has decreased sharply around this time of the season. The reason for increased price of such vegetables was mainly the off-season and the additional cost of importing these vegetables from neighbouring countries, mainly India and China.

Even so, the price difference can still be observed from shop to shop. “There is a slight difference in the price of vegetables from one shop to another because of the additional transportation cost,” said Bantilal Gupta, another vegetable dealer.

“Chemical fertilizers have boosted production and maintained the supply graph,” said Prakash Aryal, a vendor at Kalimati. He also stressed on the need for providing concession in fertilizers in order to increase productivity.

Prices going up

• Potato (Red) Rs 32

• Potato (White) Rs 26

• Tomato Rs 40

• Onion Rs 25

• Ginger Rs 70

• Garlic (Nepali) Rs 80

• Garlic (Chinese) Rs 100

Prices coming down

• Cabbage Rs 32

• Cauliflower Rs 40

• Brinjal Rs 30

• French bean Rs 40

Prices per kg