Wholesalers jack up prices of cereals, pulses

Karyana (grocery) merchants in retail stores are peeved as Delhi-based wholesalers have jacked up prices of almost all cereals and pulses by at least Rs 10 per kilogram.

Branded vegetable oil and ghee manufacturers have withheld the release of material against the freshly placed orders. Local wheat flour millers are also not accepting the new orders and wheat flour mills have jacked up the price by at least Rs 4 per kg.

The rates of pulses, lentils and cereals have gone northwards. One kg of rajmah (kidney bean), which used to be procured from the wholesale market in Delhi at Rs 118, is now available at Rs 132. Similarly, the price of arhar dal increased from Rs 118 to Rs132 in the national market. In addition, transportation further jacked up the price of these commodities by Rs 4 per kg.

Sandeep Gupta, general secretary of the retail Karyana Merchant Association, said the prices of edible cooking oils like refined, Vanaspati ghee and mustard also recorded a hike of Rs 10 per liter. Besides, companies are not releasing fresh consignments.

Flour mills have increased the rate of a 10-kg bag from Rs 290 to Rs 320. Branded wheat flour and mustard oil millers are not accepting fresh orders, he rued.

Kuldeep Rai Gupta attributed the price rise in the wholesale market in the National Capital to mass scale panic buying by common people due to escalation in the India-Pakistan conflict. He said prices would come down once demand subsides.

He said there was acute labour shortage in the wholesale market of Delhi while local wholesale markets, including Majitha Mandi, Atta Mandi, and Dhab Wasti Ram, are grappling with at least 25 per cent decline in labourers.

Amritsar