Kakinada: Floods shoot up flower prices

Kakinada: Auspicious month of sravana masam, wedding season and scarcity of flowers due to the recent floods have made the prices of flowers to skyrocket. The vendors are compelled to get flowers from Bengaluru, Telangana and a few districts in AP.

Grabbing the opportunity to make a quick buck, flower vendors in the region increased the prices of various types of flowers. The prices of all flowers were up by 10 to 15 times.

Roses are 10 times costlier than usual in retail markets while chrysanthemums hit a record rate of Rs 1,500 per kg in wholesale markets and are sold for Rs 70 per 50 grams in retail markets. Jasmines are being sold at Rs 2,000 a kg in wholesale markets and a small garland of jasmine is available at Rs 100. Kanakambaram rates also increased by four times at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 per kg.

Women are unhappy at the sudden rise in prices of flowers as they couldn't purchase flowers in large quantities. They lamented that they have to spend Rs 15 to get five roses and Rs 30 for three chamanti flowers.

G Hymavathi, a consumer, said that compared to last year the rates of flowers this year have shot up and are not within the reach of common people. she said they couldn't bear such high prices. She requested that the authorities concerned should take necessary steps to curb the high prices and make flowers available at reasonable rates.

Speaking with The Hans India, a flower vendor from Kakinada P Suresh said that the reasons for the high prices are less supply and high demand due to weddings and festivals. He said that horticulture was damaged in several acres and they have to import from other districts, which further increased the prices owing to high cost of transport and labour charges. "If we lower the prices, we will not get even minimum profit and incur loss. If it rains again, nobody will purchase the damaged flowers," he said.