THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Apart from rice, the price of shallot is also soaring high. The price of shallot has more than doubled in the last week. One kg of shallots cost Rs 91 to 93 in the wholesale market. It costs Rs 100 to 105 in the retail market. Last week, the price of one kg of shallot was Rs.43.

Traders point to the low production of shallots in Tamil Nadu as the reason for the price hike. Shallots mainly come from Dindigul and Kovilpatti to southern Kerala. It was after Diwali that the price of vegetables and groceries from Tamil Nadu skyrocketed. It is the middlemen who are behind the sudden price hike. The prices of chillies and pulses have increased. Among vegetables, prices of beans, carrots, green chillies and drumsticks have almost doubled.

Price hike

(item -yesterday -one week ago)
Dry Red Chilli -330-------- 280
Beans------- 100---------- 50-60
Carrot ----------- 80 ----------- 45-50
Drumstick------- 98---------- 43-48
Big Chilli-- 95--------55-60
Potatoes 50---------30
Mung bean 117------ 107
Pigeon pea -------117 ------- 105
Onion -------------- 31---------24

Andhra food minister will arrive on October 31

Andhra Food Minister Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on October 31 for further discussion regarding the direct supply of rice to Kerala by the Andhra Pradesh government.