Kottayam: 'Disco onions' are bringing some respite to households that are in tears over the skyrocketing price of the small, or sambar, onions that are an essential ingredient in Kerala cuisines.
Disco onions, which are slightly bigger than the small onions, costs Rs 48-50 a kilogram in the market at a time when the smaller bulb is nearing the Rs 200 mark.
Meanwhile, prices of other vegetables have started cooling down, traders in the Kottayam market said.
Heavy rains that affected truck movement had reduced supplies and driven up prices.
Vegetables from Tamil Nadu are arriving regularly for the past one week, said traders.
Consumers, however, still complain of high prices, which they say are also arbitrarily charged by vendors.
Some vendors have also not displayed the price list, they allege.
There are allegations of the state-run Horticorp charging more than the market rates from consumers.
When the small onions cost Rs 150 in the market, Horticorp is selling at Rs 170, said some consumers.
Coconut becoming a luxury
Coconut may soon become a luxury, with its red-hot price making this standout element in Kerala curries increasingly inaccessible to the common man.
With unhusked coconut costing Rs 50-55 each in the retail market in Kottayam district, it has disappeared already from many kitchens.
Increased demand for tender coconut with the start of the Sabarimala pilgrimage, higher exports and reduced arrivals are driving prices up, traders said. Production has fallen even in coastal areas, they said.
Traders expect supplies to remain tight until February, when arrivals will pick up from Tamil Nadu.
Most oil mills in Kerala depend on coconut supplies from the neighboring state.
