Price of chillies per quintal falls by about 2,500

Guntur: Price of chillies has been falling in the domestic market for the last few days due to imposition of restrictions on imports of chillies from Vietnam by China government. 

As the China government imposed 18% import duty on Indian chillies, the traders are exporting chillies to Vietnam from there, they will be exported to China to avoid the import duty hiked by the China government. 

Recently, a trader in the Vietnam exported beef along with chillies stocks. The China government arrested the trader and stopped spices and cotton imports from Vietnam. 

As a result, chillies worth Rs 700 crore sent by the traders in Guntur district were stranded in Vietnam which led to falling of prices of chillies in the domestic market. According to Agriculture Market Department officials, generally exporters export Teja and 334 varieties to China.

The price of Teja variety of chillies fell to Rs 10,000 from Rs 12,000 per quintal. Similarly, 334 variety of chillies is currently being sold at Rs 8,000 per quintal as against the earlier price of Rs 10,500 per quintal. As the chillies export to China came to a grinding halt, 341 variety of chillies price went down to Rs.9,000 from Rs 11,000 per quintal.

Similarly, prices of all other varieties of chillies fell by Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per quintal. Due to sudden fall in prices of export variety of chillies, the farmers are not selling Teja and 334 varieties of chillies.

Meanwhile, the new crop already entered into the market. About 20,000 bags arrived in the market yard on Monday. The arrivals are expected to increase further. If the farmers sell their chilli stocks now, they will incur losses due to reduction in price by the traders. 

Same situation is expected to continue for some more days. The farmers are worried over the falling price and traders express concern over rejection of exports by China government.

An official in the Agriculture Market Department T Bhaskar Reddy said, “Price of chillies has fallen by Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per quintal due to rejection of imports by China government from Vietnam. If the traders export directly to China, they would have to pay 18% export duty to China. If they export chillies from Vietnam to China, they need not pay any tax to China government.”

A chillies exporter K Sudhakar said “China government stopped import of spices and cotton from Vietnam. As a result 4,000 containers of chillies and cotton have been stranded at Vietnam. Chillies worth about Rs 700 crore exported to Vietnam were stranded in the Vietnam Port. If the same situation continues, chillies export to China will come to a grinding halt. “