Amid turmoil in Afghanistan, dry fruit rates surge

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 22

With the Taliban seizing control of Afghanistan and imports being halted, the prices of dry fruit are on their way up. A bulk of the commodity comes from the country.

The prices have increased by 15-20 per cent both in the wholesale and retail markets. These are expected go up further ahead of the festival season as the demand grows.

Buying dry fruit for Raksha Bandhan proved to be a costly affair for people this time. Traders are worried as the festival season is round the corner. In fact, some dry fruit that are not imported from Afghanistan are also witnessing a surge in prices.

Vikram Chugh, a Ludhiana trader, said the prices of dry fruit from Afghanistan had started seeing an upward trend. These have risen between Rs 100 and Rs 250 a kg for different varieties of dry fruit.

“In the retail market, almonds are now selling at Rs 900, against Rs 700 earlier; fig at Rs 750 against Rs 600 earlier; pistachio at Rs 1,850 per kg against Rs 1,600 earlier; and raisins, which were available for Rs 600 per kg, were now selling at Rs 800 per kg,” he said.

Veerpal Kaur, another trader, said the prices might increase further if things did not improve during the winter season when these were in short supply.

Some traders are taking advantage of the situation and have started stocking up the commodity. “The price of American almonds has gone up from Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 in the past one month and this variety is not even imported from Afghanistan,” she added.

Apart from households, sweetshops are one of the major consumers. Narinderpal Singh, president, Halwai Association of Punjab, said the prices of sweets would also increase if the raw material got costlier.

“All dry fruit have seen an upward trend and almond is the worst affected. It is now selling at Rs 1,000 a kg. Things were already tough for us. With the increase in dry fruit prices, our business will further take a hit,” he said.

Up by 15-20%

• The prices have increased by 15-20 per cent both in the wholesale and retail market
• The cost has risen between Rs 100 and Rs 250 a kg for different varieties of dry fruit
• The prices are expected go up further ahead of the festival season as demand grows