The Hindu Business Line : Steep decline in mango prices

At the Gaddiannaram fruit market here, the biggest fruit market in the State, mango prices are currently in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 per tonne compared to Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 during the corresponding period last year.

According to traders and market officials, the mango crop-size in the State this year is expected to double last year's.

The mango season has also started 15 days earlier; already there is substantial increase in the arrival of the fruit into the market. Some of the farmers are harvesting the fruit early fearing damage to the crop by heavy gails and thunderstorms, which parts of the State experienced over the last couple of days.

Consequently, on Monday, over 325 lorries of mangoes arrived in the market yard and, in the absence of sufficient storage facilities, several tonnes have been dumped on the market's internal roads.

Inadequate storage space in the market yard irked the traders and farmers, who staged a demonstration on Monday, besides damaging the office of a weighbridge at the place. The quality of the fruits was said to be deteriorating on account of being kept in the hot sun. As a result, farmers, already affected by low prices, incurred further losses. The fruits were also losing weight, consequently costing the farmers as much as Rs 1,500 per tonne.

The producers of sweet lemon also complained that they have had to incur avoidable losses due to inadequate storage place in the market.

Following the commotion in the market on Monday, the Deputy Director of the State Marketing Department, Mr Raza Hussain, visited the market yard and gave permission to the traders to use the open place available in the market, including the platforms under construction for erecting temporary sheds to store the fruits. The market currently has 95 sheds while licences have been given to 236 traders. A new trading platform which was being constructed at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore could not be completed as per schedule by the end of March this year.

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