Potatoes from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab reach Bengal and help keep the price below Rs 15/kg during this time of the year. But this time, the new crop could not reach the city, thereby pushing up the price of the Jyoti variety to Rs 24/kg and Chandramukhi to Rs 29/kg.
According to Kuldeep Singh, who exports potato to Kolkata through Ratanpur (Hooghly), the situation was “hostile for goods movement”. “The new crop is highly perishable. If it gets stuck midway, owing to uncertainty prevailing across the nation, it would rot and my loss will be mounting,” he explained. Currently, the collective stock of potatoes in 465 cold storages in the state is 3.5 lakh tonnes. The monthly consumption is 5 lakh tonnes. “The gap of 1.5 lakh tonnes will make it dearer,” said Lalu Mukherjee, president of the Hooghly Zilla Aloo Byabsayee Samiti.
“If the situation continues like this, we don’t know where the potato price will reach. I stopped selling onion when its price shot through the roof. I might do the same for potatoes as well,” said Sujit Ghosh, a retailer at Behala Old Market. The new crop is likely to hit the market after December 25. Till then, the price will keep soaring as some big traders have started hoarding.
“Posta market and Koley Market normally gets 50 to 70 trucks of onions each a day around this time. On Monday, only two trucks reached Koley Market. Traders in Nashik want to send the new crop but they are not sure how they would export it. Also, transporters are demanding exorbitant price for supplying onion to Bengal,” said Kamal De, president of the West Bengal Perishable Goods Vendors’ Association.
In Hooghly and North 24 Parganas, suppliers felt it safer to sell vegetables in local markets rather than sending them to Kolkata. With the situation continuing to remain volatile, vegetable prices may skyrocket over the next few days.
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