Hyderabad: With Id-ul-Fitr approaching, the prices of handmade semiya have shot up overnight. A kilogram of handmade vermicelli is sold between Rs 450 and Rs 500 as against Rs 300 till last week.
“Demand has shot up and hence the price increase. There is a shortage of handmade vermicelli in the market. With Id approaching people want to have it. The prices were increased by the seviyan ‘vermicelli’ makers,” said Mr Dilavar Ali, a trader at Mir Alam Mandi.
He said that people from far off districts and even from Maharashtra and Karnataka who visit the Old City for Ramzan shopping also purchase the handmade vermicelli. “Earlier the handmade semiya was an important ingredient for sheer khurma. Of late, people are using the machine-made version, as its cheaper and is easily available,” he said.
Mr Naseer Ahmed, a semiya maker from Dabeerpura, said handmade vermicelli was comparatively costlier. “Handmade vermicelli is thicker than the machine-made version, and it is quite cumbersome to make it. Handmade semiya is costlier as maida is used in making it while it is not so in the machine made vermicilli,” he said.
“To cater to the demand we start making it at least six months before the month of Ramzan. The shopkeepers place order months before and keep the stock at their shops,” Mr Mohd Ismail, another vermicelli maker, said.
There are only a handful of families who now prepare semiya by hand. They are settled in Dabeerpura, Ghode ki Khabar, Yakutpura and Chaderghat of the Old City. “The next generation next is not interested in the hard job,” Mr Ismail said.
