Now potatoes turn costlier, retail selling price above Rs 40 per kg

New Delhi : With unseasonal rainfall in several parts of the nation, the markets are now facing scarcity of staple potato, leading to rise in their retail price.

Consumers in most of the Indian markets are paying over Rs 40 per kg for the potatoes; while in normal conditions the prices of potatoes remain less than half of what it is now.

The sudden hikes in the prices of vegetables have left the experts baffled as they see no concrete reason behind such price hike in the market, with a record output of 53 million tonne in 2018-19.

The all India average price of potato was about Rs 1,360/quintal during December 1-23, against Rs 749 in the year-ago period. This year, prices have jumped from an average Rs 1,010/quintal in October to Rs 1,140/quintal in November after production was hit due to unseasonal rains. Potato is now sold at Rs 40/kg in retail market in the National Capital Region, whereas the vegetable was sold at Rs 15-20/kg a few months ago.

The prices are believed to be having a temporaray upward trend and many believe that they will fall when the winter crop will hit the markets.

"The upward trend may be temporary and a real picture will emerge when the main winter crop will start arriving from end of January," said SK Chakrabarti, director of Shimla-based Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI). The winter crop has a share of about 80% in the total production and has been kept in the cold stores for use throughout the year.