India: Prices push jasmine off grace this Deepavali
“Jasmine is being sold at 1,500 [23 USD] per kilogram while it was sold at 500 [7.70 USD] last year. The three-fold surge in price is due to limited supply of jasmine this year,” Ramachandran said. At the market, which houses about 300 flower shops, the trade volume of jasmine last year was five tonnes while it is less than half a tonne this year, which is 10 times less than last year’s figure,” he elaborated.
On the other hand, sellers of chrysanthemum (saamandhi), have been doing good business as buyers consider this the next best alternative to jasmine. R K K Balu (48), who has been in the business since the age of 12, said that the rain turned out favourable for chrysanthemum and prices have come down this year due to increased supply.
Read more at The New Indian Express (Lalitha Ranjani)
