By Laxman Kafle

Kathmandu, Feb : 5 With reduction in the supply of garlic, the businessmen have increased the price of spicy vegetable in the local market.

They have increased the price by more than 100 per cent by taking advantage of the supply problem caused by coronavirus in China. Nepal heavily depends on China to meet the demand of garlic and other fruits.

The import of garlic has declined from China over the week due to coronavirus outbreak.

According to information officer of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board, Binaya Shrestha, the price of a kilo of garlic had increased by 100 per cent in one week after its import from China had been affected in the wake of virus outbreak.

“Traders in Kalimati are selling a kilogram of garlic at Rs. 550 today (Tuesday) while its price was around Rs. 200-250 two weeks ago. And they have no stock of the vegetable in their shops, and the importers are supplying only nominal amount of garlic to the traders,” he said.

According to him, the traders are selling goods from the stock at exorbitantly high prices.

In the last six months, a total of 1,065 tonnes of garlic had arrived in Kalimati market from China and 128 tonnes from various parts of the country, he said.

Shrestha also urged the concerned government authorities to monitor the market to control artificial price hike of garlic and other products during the crisis.

A wholesaler of garlic at Kalimati Market Hem Narayan Shrestha said that the supply of garlic and other fruits from China had stopped almost totally in the last two weeks.

“The price of garlic has increased unexpectedly due to its short supply in Kalimati market. So, the government should take action against traders who are selling garlic at highly unreasonable rates,” he said.

According to him, Tatopani-Khasa border point and Kerung border were closed for the past few days, which had also affected import of goods from China.

Shrestha said that the traders were now turning to Indian market to import garlic and other goods to meet the domestic needs.

Netra Prasad Subedi, director general at the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, said that the Department had deployed a team to monitor the market after getting information that the price of garlic and few other items had gone up significantly in the market.

“Taking rising price of garlic over the last week, a team from the Department is actively monitoring the market. We raided the Kalimati and Balkhu vegetable market Monday. When we reached there, many traders ran away by closing their shops,” he said.

He said that there was something wrong in the market; the importers are suspected to be supplying garlic in the market at a high price.

“Now, we are preparing the list of stockers and inspecting their stores to find the stock and take action against them if they are found selling goods at high price cashing in on their short supply,” he said.

As per the statistics of the Department of Customs, import of garlic was almost nil in the last couple of days, he said, adding that it meant that the traders were selling garlic at a high margin.