Onam season: vegetables and sugar prices rise, but rice and coconut oil see relief
With Thiruvonam just two days away, shoppers in Kerala are facing mixed fortunes in the market. While prices of several vegetables and sugar have risen sharply ahead of the festival, some essential commodities such as rice and coconut oil have become cheaper, offering partial relief to households.
Among vegetables, raw bananas — a key ingredient for making chips — remain costly. In Kochi's wholesale markets, a kilogram of raw bananas is selling for around ₹65. Traders attribute the high price to reduced supplies from major production centres, including Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu, due to poor rainfall.
K.M. Hashim, a wholesale banana trader at the Ernakulam market, said the current price is significantly higher than last year. “Raw bananas cost only around ₹50 a kg in the wholesale market during the last Onam season. This time, the price has increased, resulting in higher prices for chips as well. Chip manufacturers buy only high-grade raw bananas, which cost around ₹70 a kg. At this rate, chips must be priced above ₹500 a kg,” he explained.
Other vegetables have also seen notable increases. N.H. Shameed, general secretary of the Ernakulam Market Stall Owners’ Association, reported that onions, shallots, beans and carrots are all costlier than they were just a week ago. “Onions, which cost ₹31 a kg last week, are now priced at ₹48 in the wholesale market. The price of beans has also increased by around ₹20 to touch ₹80 a kg,” he said. He cited increased exports to countries where the Keralite diaspora celebrates Onam on a grand scale as a major reason for the domestic price rise.
Sugar prices have also spiked, touching ₹75–77 per kg in retail markets in Ernakulam district on Sunday. Several consumers suspect that increased diversion of sugar for ethanol production is behind the rise. However, the Union government has attributed the price increase to a fall in domestic production, higher festive-season demand, weather-related crop damage, tighter global supplies, and speculation and hoarding by some industry players.
In contrast, rice prices have remained steady over the past two weeks, easing early concerns of a sharp increase. Sanoob Abdulkhader, an Aluva-based wholesaler, noted that the popular Matta variety was priced at ₹57 a kg in the Ernakulam wholesale market on Sunday, down ₹3 from two weeks ago. The Surekha and Jaya varieties have stayed stable at ₹53 and ₹47 a kg, respectively. “Mill owners had earlier cited a shortage of paddy as the reason for the price rise, but they now say the issue has been resolved,” he added.
Coconut oil, which had crossed ₹300 a kg a couple of weeks ago, has also declined to around ₹290 a kg. Traders attribute this stabilisation to the release of oil and copra stocks that had been held by manufacturers.
The State government has stepped up market intervention to control prices. Supplyco, the state-run supply agency, has recorded sales of ₹304.65 crore so far, indicating increased efforts to provide essential goods at reasonable rates during the festival season.
