First LPG, fuel and milk, now vegetable prices skyrocket
Summer has set in in India and with rising temperatures, prices of vegetables are soaring.
The latest is lemon, whose prices have risen to ₹200 per kg in Gujarat’s Rajkot as per a report. This comes at a time when people are already facing financial issues due to inflation of other commodities.
The prices of essential commodities including cooking gas, milk, and fuel have seen a massive surge over the past few weeks, with the common man landing in a soup amid the inflation.
As per a recent report by Krishi Jagran, chilli, ginger, beans, garlic, cauliflower, green coriander prices have been on the rise continuously. The prices of cumin, coriander and chillies have seen a jump of 40 to 60 per cent in the recent days, as per the report.
Also read: Retail inflation inches up to 6.07% in February; food items got costlier
Green coriander, which was earlier available for ₹50-60 per kg, is now being sold at ₹100 per kg, while the price of one kilogram of green chillies has increased to ₹160 per kg.
The price of beans, another staple vegetable in the Indian kitchen, has reached ₹120 per kg.
Cauliflower, which was being sold ₹40 a kg in February, is now available at double the rate in just a little over one month.
The rise in price of vegetables comes at a time when milk prices are increasing too.
On February 28, dairy giant Amul announced that it was hiking milk prices by ₹2 per litre, translating to a four per cent rise in MRPs. Days after that, another popular dairy maker, Mother Dairy, also followed suit and hiked milk prices by ₹2 per litre.
The wholesale price-based inflation in February rose to 13.11 per cent on hardening of prices of crude oil.
WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the 11th consecutive month beginning April 2021. Inflation last month was 12.96 per cent, while in February last year, it was 4.83 per cent.
“The high rate of inflation in February 2022, is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles and non-food articles etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.
Also read: Retail inflation climbs to 6.01% in January, highest in seven months
One of the main reason vegetable prices are increasing so steadily is that the cost of transportation has increased.
Over the last 12 days, the prices of petrol and diesel has jumped by ₹7.20, after a four-month halt. Commodity prices are, in this scenario, expected to rise further, especially with summer coming.
(With inputs from Agencies)
