THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Increasing fuel prices have had a cascading effect on the prices of essential commodities and items needed for festival season. While traders are happy with increased business after two years, consumers are forced to compromise on quantity and feel pinched badly
Easter - Vishu celebrations are likely to cost dear for the common man as skyrocketing fuel prices have had a cascading effect on the prices of essential commodities, upsetting family budgets. The prices of fruits, vegetables and cooking gas have all gone up by 10-15% in the past couple of weeks. A majority of the people are struggling to adjust with the price rise and are forced to purchase fewer items or limit their purchases and celebrate Vishu in a limited manner. Santhi K, a customer who was seen purchasing vegetables at Palayam Market, said everything costs more now.
“I regularly buy a vegetable kit worth `100 and usually it’s sufficient for two days but now the same kit has fewer items and is enough for only one day. The cost of living has suddenly doubled and people like us are suffering. I am trying to buy items that are very necessary for Vishu,” said Santhi.
Govt’s market intervention a mere claim, say customers
Though the state government claims to have made effective intervention in the market, common people are not getting benefited from it. “The government says items are available at reasonable rates at government-operated outlets like Supplyco and Consumerfed. But none of the items are available when we go to purchase them. We are forced to buy the same from the open market at unaffordable rates. The rise in the cooking gas price is another issue. We are struggling to manage our daily budget,” she added.
However, according to traders, the business has improved compared to the past two years. The vegetable and fruit market is doing good business since the advent of Vishu, Ramzan and Easter festival season. Santhosh Pillai, a vegetable trader at Chalai Market, said the prices of vegetables have gone up in the past two weeks.
“We cannot say the price rise is because of the festival season. The prices of some of the vegetables like tomato, ‘chembu’ (taro root), snake gourd and big chilli has gone up. The market is very active compared to the past two years and the business has picked up by 60-70% compared to pandemic times,” said Santhosh.
According to traders, the prices are likely to go up further in the coming weeks. “The impact of the rise in fuel prices will reflect on the rates other commodities further in the coming weeks. The buying capacity of the customers is still an issue and people are definitely not purchasing like in pre-pandemic times. They are limiting their purchases to only very essential items,” said Santhosh.
The prices of rice, sugar and pulses have also gone up in the open market.
COFRA Consumer Forum general secretary Sashidharan Nair said the price of rice has increased in the Supplyco outlets also in the past two weeks.
“None of the political parties or ruling parties in the state or at the Centre are bothered about the price rise. Apart from statements and claims, they are not making any effective interventions. They say essential items are available at Supplyco or Consumerfed outlets but in reality the supply is very limited. We cannot purchase the quantity required to meet our monthly demands,” said Sashidharan Nair.
Demand for imported fruits goes up
Despite the rise in prices, the demand for imported fruits has gone up in the state. According to people in the fruit business, the import of fruits from Europe, Turkey, the USA, Spain, France and Egypt has gone up by more than 100%. A wide variety of apples, grapes, citrus and orange are the fruits that are arriving in the state from across the globe.
“Earlier, only 15 containers used to arrive daily and now around 50 containers are arriving in the state daily. We cannot say there is a rise in prices of fruits. But we have to pay 50% duty to the Centre for importing fruits. This would have reflected on the retail prices but we are able to make them available at fair prices. None of the other countries impose import duties on fruits,” said P V Hamza, state president of All Kerala Fruits Merchants Association. He said the majority of the fruits from other states come from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Centre failed to cap retail price rise at 4-6%: Expert
Financial expert Mary George said the Centre has failed to cap the retail price rise between 4% and 6% as fixed by the monetary policy committee under the RBI. “The economy is still struggling and the retail price index climbed to 6.95% and the government has failed miserably to cap the inflation. The RBI governor has urged the Centre to bring down the fuel prices to fix the issue immediately. Between 2014 and 2021, the petrol price rose by 247% while diesel price increased by 793%. Both the state and Centre are sharing the taxes on fuel — 48% and 52%, respectively. The situation can be improved only by bringing down the fuel prices,” said Mary George.
Price box
Vegetables
Tomato - I35 (I20)
Lemon - I200 ( I60)
Garlic - I100 (I50)
Chembu - I90 (I40)
Snake guard - I60 (I20)
* price before two weeks in brackets
Imported fruits
Citrus - I80 to I120
Apple - I120 to I200
Grapes - I50 to I80
RISING PRICES MAR THE FESTIVAL SEASON
The prices of fruits, vegetables and cooking gas have all gone up by 10-15% in the past couple of weeks. And the price of imported fruits from Europe, Turkey, US, Spain etc have also gone up by 100%. Traders worry that prices will go up again in the coming days.