Vegetables soar even as wholesale prices tumble

PRICE GOUGING | Consumers continue to pay exorbitant rates

- Raina Assainar

With the drop in mercury, prices of vegetables at the wholesale market have also come down. However, retail prices remain high, with Mumbaikars continuing to pay exorbitant rates for basics.

A month ago, prices of vegetables went up for about 15 days, said Narendra Shelke, a vendor at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Navi Mumbai. "That was because a month prior to that, some places in Maharashtra had witnessed unseasonal rains, which destroyed crops. Farmers had incurred losses and the rates had increased," he said.

"Now, with winter setting in, vegetable rates have gone very low except for unseasonal produce such as drumstick and orange carrot," Shelke said.