Guntur: Good price cheers chilli farmers

Guntur: Badiga variety of red chilli price touched Rs17,300 per quintal, the record price during this season so far.

Similarly, Devanuri Deluxe variety of red chilli price touched Rs15,300 per quintal and Teja variety of red chilli is being sold at Rs14,500 per quintal due to increase of demand for quality red chillies in the domestic market.

Badiga, Devanuri Deluxe and Teja varieties' prices increased by 20 per cent to 25 percent due to increase of demand for special variety red chillies.

According to sources in the Mirchi yard, the demand is increasing for quality red chillies in the market. When the limited stock is available, the traders and exporters are offering better price for quality chillies. The traders and exporters are purchasing the red chilli stocks and keeping the stocks, with a hope that they will get export orders.

It may be mentioned here that cyclones in September and October damaged the chilli gardens. As a result, the farmers got inferior quality and less yield. The farmers whose crops were damaged due to cyclones suffered heavy losses.

The demand increased for quality red chillies. Though Guntur Mirchi Yard is closed for summer holidays, the red chilli stocks are being purchased in the cold storage units for the convenience of traders. On Tuesday, 32,416 bags of red chilli stocks were sold in the cold storage units in the district.

Guntur Mirchi Yard secretary I Venkateswara Reddy said, "Red chilli arrivals will increase after re-opening of Mirchi Yard after summer holidays. Demand for quality special varieties increased and benefited the farmers."