Guntur: Red chilli prices soar as demand rises

Guntur: Chillies that have arrived in Asia's biggest chilli yard here is experiencing unprecedented demand from both the domestic and international markets coupled with reduction in supply pushing its price upwards. The farmers are laughing all the way to bank holding heavy cheques.

As a result, almost all the varieties of chilli price have gone up by Rs 2000 to Rs 3,000 per quintal comparing to the last 15 days. The 341 variety of red chilli which was previously sold at Rs 12,000 a quintal is now being sold at Rs 15,500 per quintal, the price of the 273 variety jumped to Rs 14,900 per quintal from Rs 12,500. The Super Ten variety price was hiked to Rs 14,200 per quintal from Rs 12,000 per quintal.

Similarly, the 4,884 variety of chilli is being sold at Rs 12,300 per quintal which was sold at Rs 12,300 per quintal. The Red chilli prices are expected to go up further in the days to come.

Good quality chilli that is available in the Guntur Mirchi yard is attracting traders from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and other States. It may be called that China stopped chilli imports from India due to Covid-19. The red chili is being exported to Bangladesh and several European countries.

The Guntur chilli powder is very popular for keeping the pickles in red colour. In a bid to make extra profits, some traders purchase chillis in large quantities and keep them in cold storage units. Traders expect the price of chilli to go up further.

At present, on an average every day, 1.5 lakhs chilli bags are brought by farmers to Guntur mirchi yard. For a change, farmers are a happy lot these days.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday, Guntur Mirchi Yard Secretary M Venkateshwara Reddy said, "Compared to last year, the price of all varieties of chilli has increased by Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per quintal this season. We have taken steps to introduce Electronic National Agriculture Marketing (E-NAM) system. The traders from China and other countries used to come to purchase red chilli. However, due to fall in chilli export to China, the price has fallen earlier. We hope that China market will also recover slowly."

Chilli traders say that production of red chilli crop in Madhaya Pradesh has come down during this season. As a result, some traders have shifted their attention to Guntur which led to an increase in demand. Reduction of cultivating area is also one of the reasons. If the export to China is revived, the red chilli price will go up further. But it will take some more time. If the farmers could wait some more time, they will get a better price.

Besides this, the yard is generating employment to thousands of loading and unloading workers, commission agents and their staff.

The yard management is offering free meals to the farmers who brought chilli stocks to the yard for sale.