Bad weather conditions and coivd-19 outbreak to affect harvesting and transportation too
Shimla, June 16 (QNN)
Apples from Himachal Pradesh are set to hit the market in a month’s time, but thanks to the Covid-19 lock down and colder-than-usual weather during the growing season, consumers might end up paying double the price compared to last year.
The apple season would fall in July and August, but the output this year is expected just about 45 to 50 per cent of last year’s bumper production of four crore boxes (each box containing 20 kg each), and growers and fruit merchants expect to find it tough to find markets or transportation to sell their produce. Customers would find the apples highly expensive this year. The experts were expecting that the price could range anywhere between Rs 250 and Rs 400 per kg in the metros. How the situation develops due to coronavirus will be a key factor in changing the market dynamics,” Delhi fruit merchant Gopal Singh Thakur from Kotkhai.