A steady flow of trucks from Bihar and Karnataka to wholesale markets in Calcutta resulted in the price of green chillies sliding by almost Rs 80-100 a kilo on Monday.
But the prices of most other vegetables remained high as supplies from districts remained hit in the aftermath of the panchayat elections.
Green chillies sold for Rs 180 to Rs 200 a kilo across markets in the city on Monday, compared with Rs 280-300 a kilo the day before.
The prices of brinjals, too, saw a drop on Monday.
The bigger variety of brinjal sold for Rs 100-110 a kilo on Monday, compared with Rs 130-150 on Sunday, the drop triggered by a tendency among retailers to clear the stocks fearing wastage.
“The sharp drop in the price of green chillies was a surprise for us on Monday,” said Biswajit Roy, a vegetable seller in Jadu Babu’s market in Bhowanipore.
“On Saturday and Sunday, we sold green chillies for Rs 250 and Rs 280 a kilo. Today, it was Rs 180 a kilo in Bhowanipore.”
Despite being one of the highest green chilli producing states, Bengal depends on supplies from other states around this time of the year.
The bulk of the produce in Bengal is seasonal, restricted to winter. Kakdwip, Bhangar and Canning in South 24-Parganas and Beldanga in Murshidabad are the major green chilli producing belts in Bengal.
On Saturday, several trucks carrying vegetables from other states had not entered Bengal because of the rural polls. A large number of trucks stayed put along the inter-state border through the night and entered Bengal only on Sunday, traders said.
“By Sunday night, around eight trucks carrying green chillies reached Koley Market in Sealdah. Most of them were from Katihar in Bihar and a few were from Bangalore,” said Kamal Dey, president of the West Bengal Vendors’ Association.
“There weren’t too many buyers of green chillies on Sunday and this resulted in a price drop.”
While the prices of green chillies dropped, that of others continued to rise.
Pointed gourds sold for Rs 80 a kilo in several markets on Monday, up by Rs 10 a kilo on Sunday. Bitter gourds sold for Rs 120 a kilo, up from Rs 80 three days back.
Tomatoes continued to sell between Rs 120 and 130 a kilo with the state still waiting for supplies from Karnataka.
“A wholesaler from Bangalore said bigger tomatoes were falling off the plants in parts of Karnataka because of an infection. So if one bigha of farmland would produce around 20 tonnes of full-grown tomatoes, it is now yielding around 16 tonnes,” said Biswajit Sarkar, a wholesaler in Koley Market.