Steep rise in coconut prices hit household budgets

Throwing a spanner in the household and restaurant budgets, the price of coconuts has seen a steep increase, though prices of some vegetables have significantly dropped.

Coconuts cost Rs 30 each, while a kilo of tomato is priced as low as Rs 9. The prices of beans and beetroots have also fallen to Rs 18 and 13 a kilo, respectively. Cabbage and bottle gourd are priced at Rs 14/kg.

The higher price tag on some vegetables, however, continued with coriander leaves and curry leaves costing Rs 30 and Rs 70 per kilo, respectively. A kilo of onion was billed at Rs 40, even as the same quantity of potato was sold at Rs 25.

Two varieties of the same vegetable - Delhi and Nati carrots - found themselves in the opposite end of the price range. While the Delhi carrot was sold at Rs 50 per kilo, the Nati variety was priced at Rs 28.

Chandra Gowda, president, Horticultural Producers' Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society Limited (Hopcoms), explained that the contrasting price range is due to the good monsoon that increased vegetable yield in the state, while coconuts sold now are the yields from two years ago when the state witnessed a drought.

He asked consumers to brace for price rise as the cost of vegetables would head northward with the rising mercury. The cost of coconuts would also get steeper, Gowda warned, adding that farmers are watching the sowing patterns and weather changes to ensure some level of stability in the prices.

Veerendra N Kamat, treasurer, Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association, said restaurants are mulling a revision in the cost of the dishes depending on the rise in vegetable prices. Since coconuts are an essential ingredient in most south Indian dishes, he said restaurants are using it sparingly.