Kochi: The vegetable, fruit and fish markets are the worst hit by the short supply of currency notes of lower denominations. The prices of all perishable goods dropped by 20 to 25 per cent. Traders said that they had no other option but to sell goods at reduced prices. “After demonetization, the sale has dropped by more than 50 per cent as a majority of the customers shifted to supermarkets and malls which have the card payment facility. Prices of all vegetables has come down with less demand,” said C.D Saji, a wholesale vegetable dealer in Ernakulam market.
Though many of the vegetable and fruits traders still accept Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the shopkeepers do not have enough notes of smaller denominations to give change. The cost of popular vegetables like potato, tomato and onion which was selling in the range of Rs 18 to Rs 25 per kilogram has gone down to Rs 10 and Rs 15. “The crisis will worsen when the agents and traders in Tamil Nadu stop accepting old notes,” the trader added. Similar is the situation in the highly perishable fish market where the price of the expensive and most sought after fish varieties like pearl spot, seer fish and pomfret has come down.
“The price of big fish like pearl spot and seer fish has dropped from Rs 800 to Rs 500 or Rs 600. The medium-sized pearl spot was selling at just '140 per kilogram on Wednesday. The common people’s popular varieties like mackerel and sardine also went down to Rs 140 per kg from Rs 200 to Rs 250,” said K.H Kasim, a fish vendor at Kaloor. The situation is no different when it comes to fruits. The price of apples and oranges declined to Rs 90 and Rs 40 per kilo respectively while the fruits were selling at Rs 140 and Rs 45 earlier.
