Chilli farmers in Telangana are reaping high prices this season after a disastrous last season when they suffered due to the thrips virus last year.

“The prices are ruling high because of the fresh demand for the spice produce from China and Bangladesh. Because of limited supply of new stocks, prices of many varieties are trading at a high price,” a Telangana government official said.

“Major importers are now waiting for the arrivals of the new crop due to which Teja variety is now trading in the range of  ₹18,000-23,000 a quintal, up by ₹500 per quintal from last week,” he said.

The Teja variety is ruling at a high of  ₹24,000 a quintal at the Warangal market yard, one of the biggest chilli markets in the country, as against  ₹17,500 a year ago.

The prices of other popular varieties, Wonder Hot and US-341, too are quoting very high. While the Wonder Hot variety is quoted at  ₹38,000 a quintal (against  ₹29,000 a year ago), US-341 is being bought at  ₹26,000 (₹21,500) a year ago.

Telangana is the top chilli-producing State in the country with a production of 7.19 lakh tonnes. It is grown on about 4 lakh acres. It accounts for 22 per cent of the country’s chilli area and 38 per cent of the production.

Trade sources said chilli prices were expected to rule firm, though below the peak seen last season, on stocks in cold storage being 90 per cent lower this season.

Thrips attack

Farmers say the rates have gone up in the last one week or so sharply. “About 80 per cent of the produce has been sold so far. The crop was hit by thrips attack again, causing heavy productivity losses. Against the normal output of 30 quintals an acre, we got only 5-10 quintals,” B Rambabu, a chilli farmer, from Khammam told businessline.

With the production getting hit by thrips, the inflows have reduced significantly, triggering the price increase.

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