Coimbatore: The rates of banana have soared in Coimbatore city, due to less supply to the wholesale markets. The wholesale traders of ‘R.S. Puram Vazhakkai mandi’, one of the biggest wholesale market of in the district, said that less arrivals of the unripe banana bunches pushed the price of the fruits which severely affect their regular business. But the price rise of the banana has come as a relief for the banana growers in Mettupalayam region.
“Regularly, we used to get around 4,000 to 5,000 bunches a day. For the last couple of weeks, the arrival of banana bunches have come down to 1,500 to 2,000 bunches in Vazhakkai mandis of Gandhipuram area,” said C. Ragu, a banana wholesale trader there.
He said that the price of the ‘Nendran variety’, which is in big demand touched Rs 65 per kg at the auction held on Wednesday in the ‘Vazhakkai mandis’. Couple of months ago, the same variety had fetched between Rs 40 to Rs 45 per kg.
Traders said the price of the ‘Poovam’ variety ranged between Rs 25 to Rs 30 per kg in the wholesale market. One month ago, the same variety sold at just Rs 14 to 16 a kg.
Vazhakkai mandis in the city are getting supplies from the Mettupalayam, Sirumugai, and Sathy areas. “The farmers, who have lands very near to the Bhavani and Noyyal rivers are cultivating the banana plantation. Due to the drought, most of the farmers have avoided banana cultivation, which requires large quantities of the water for irrigation. While arrivals to the wholesale markets slumped nearly 50 per cent, the high demand pushed banana prices higher,” said R. Palanisamy, a trader at R.S. Puram mandi.
