Red chilli price competing with gold in Telangana\'s Hanamkonda dist

Hanamkonda: Red chilli was sold for a record Rs 45,000 per quintal on Monday at Enumamula of Hanamkonda district, which hosts Asia’s biggest agriculture market. The prices had been rising for the last few weeks, and stood at Rs 27,000 per quintal after opening of the mirchi yard this season.

There is a great demand for ‘single patti’ chilli which are used to prepare pickles and chilli powder which are sold at Rs 35,000 per quintal

Ode Lingashwar Rao, a farmer from Karkapalli of Ghanpur mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, brought 24 bags of red chilli to the market. The sale was through an auction and the winning bid reached Rs 45,000 per quintal.

In contrast, last year red chilli was sold for Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 per quintal. Pest damage to the chilli crop drastically resulted yield which has resulted in the record prices being witnessed in the markets, market officials said.

Seeing the high price that chilli is fetching, those farmers who had put their produce in cold storage are bringing it out for sale now. Many farmers expressed happiness at getting a good price for the red chilli.