The wholesale market has been receiving over 3,000 quintals of garlic everyday, which is more than the normal supply of 1,200 to 1,300 quintals per day.
Hoarding and price manipulation have prevented the retail price of garlic from coming down to Rs 120 per kg, considering its supply has almost tripled in the last two months. In the retail market, the price of garlic — a vital ingredient used in kitchens — has not come down from Rs 120 per kg in the last five months.
The wholesale market has been receiving over 3,000 quintals of garlic everyday, which is more than the normal supply of 1,200 to 1,300 quintals per day.
According to traders, retailers are not bringing down garlic prices, and are taking advantage of the period when there was a scarcity of the plant in August and September in 2016, when China had restricted the export of garlic owing to poor yield. However, the supply has improved in the past few months. The price of garlic in the wholesale market has even dropped to Rs 40 per kg.
The price of garlic hovered between Rs 180 and Rs 200 per kg in 2016 as there was low supply, and the average price of the plant in the wholesale touched Rs 110 per kg. "The agricultural produce market committee (APMC) in Vashi receives a large supply of garlic from China. "There was a low supply of garlic from China due to drought, followed by flood in 2016. While the supply has picked up, retailers and middlemen have been hoarding the commodity by taking advantage of the situation," said an APMC trader.
Presently, garlic supply at APMC in Vashi has touched 3,000 quintals, which is much more than the daily requirement of Mumbai and its suburbs.
"The supply has increased by about 300 per cent in the last two months. The current supply more than the normal supply of garlic at APMC, Vashi," said an administrative officer at APMC, Vashi. In September first week, the supply of garlic was hardly 240 quintals.
The average price of garlic on Saturday at the wholesale market was around Rs 50 per kg. "With Rs 50 per kg as the wholesale price, the retail price cannot cross Rs 80 per kg," said another trader. However, in the retail market, garlic is being sold for Rs 120 to Rs 140 per kg.
On the contrary, retailers claim that APMC traders are adding over 50 per cent on the arrival price. "There is a huge difference between official arrival prices of garlic when it is sold to the retailer in the wholesale market," said Mahindra Patil, a retailer in Vashi.
"In the absence of proper monitoring, both retail and wholesale traders have been looting people," said Pratikasha Nahata, a housewife from Mulund, adding that garlic is being used less in the kitchen.
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