Markets hit as rains affect supply chain

HYDERABAD: Continuous rainfalls not only battered roads, inundated drainage and interrupted smooth supply of electricity, it also hit the city’s goods transport services hard. Most of the lorries and trucks have been staying off the roads and stationed at the parking lots for the past 10 days due to rains.

Major markets in Hyderabad are bearing the brunt of this situation as sufficient goods are not transported due to lack of enough truck services. Malakpet Gunj, one of the city’s major markets, where each day around 100 truckloads of dry provision used to be unloaded, is now getting only 40 loads, because of these rains. The same is the case with Begum Bazaar. The market, which is always busy, now has only limited customers.

At Bowenpally Vegetable Market, the cost of potato which was around Rs 18 per kilogram before the rains has increased to Rs 22 at the wholesale price. Veera Mallesh of MB and Company at Bowenpally Vegetable Market said, “Markets have become unpredictable because of these rains. Good quality commodities are not available due to lack of transport services. The price of potatoes has been raised up to 25 per cent. If this situation continues, there will be further increase in prices.”

M. Chandrashekar, a wholesaler at the Malakpet market, said, “A bag of good quality onions which were Rs 2,800 per quintal is now Rs 4,400 because the trucks from Maharashtra have not reached the city for the past few days.”

Arfath Khan, a retailer and wholesaler at Begum Bazaar, said, “Because of rains, the retail market is moving at a snail pace. From the first to the sixth of every month, customers generally throng this market, but after the rains started, the footfall came down drastically. There is a slight inflation we are witnessing and if this continues, there will be a huge jump in the prices on dry provisions.”