Bengaluru: Poor rains and sowing, festive demand drive up prices of vegetables
Vegetable prices in Bengaluru have surged due to a combination of deficit rainfall, reduced sowing, and increased demand during the upcoming festival season. Traders report that supply chain disruptions and higher wholesale costs are directly impacting retail prices for essential items like onions and tomatoes.
Why it matters
Rising food inflation during festive periods places significant financial pressure on households and highlights the vulnerability of agricultural supply chains to climate factors.
With the festival season set to start with Varamahalakshmi on Friday (August 21) followed by Ganesh Chathurti, accompanied by deficit rain and a decrease in sowing percentage, vegetable prices in different markets of the city have increased.
Gangadhariah, a vegetable trader at Kalasipalya vegetable market in Bengaluru, said, “Traders buy vegetables from here in large quantities and sell them in bigger markets like Shivajinagar, Yeshwantpur, Gandhi Bazaar, K.R. Market, Madiwala and others. Last week, the price of onion per kg in the wholesale market ranged somewhere between ₹17 and ₹28 depending on the quality and size. Now, it has increased to ₹32-35 depending on the quality. In retail, it will be ₹50 to 55 per kg, and first-grade ones have gone up to ₹60 per kg.”
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