GUNTUR: Teja chilli on Friday set a new record after it was sold for Rs 18,500 per quintal at NTR Mirchi Yard in Guntur. The earlier top price of Rs 14,500 a quintal was fetched almost five years ago.
The sudden jump in the price of the Teja variety, which is usually sold for Rs 11,000 per quintal, was attributed to increase in demand. Red chilly from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh floods Guntur market every year before Diwali.
However, the crop was damaged in the upper riparian States this year due to incessant rains and floods. As there was a massive shortage in the availability of the commodity, prices of the Teja, Devanur Deluxe and Badigi varieties have inflated. Growers who had stocked their produce in cold storages are hugely benefitting with the abnormal increase in red chilli prices. Traders at the chilli yard, the biggest one in Asia, said nearly 10 lakh tonnes of the commodity was stored in cold storages and the demand for it would continue till December.