Pocket pinch: Consumers to face high potato prices with no fresh stock in sight

Kolkata: Consumers may continue to feel a pinch in their pockets as vendors and farmers are apprehending a further hike in the price of potatoes in the state for some more days.

A steep rise in the price of onions and potatoes has recently affected the people in the state for quite some time.

The situation was brought under control after the Bengal government started selling onions and potatoes at a subsidised rate through its Sufal Bangla stalls across the state.

The average market price of potatoes stands at Rs 30 per kg. As there isn't adequate supply of potatoes in the market, the price has not gone down. In normal cases, a fresh crop of potatoes are supplied in December.

The supply of Pukhraj potato is also inadequate this season. Even the cold storages which stock Jyoti and Chandramukhi potatoes are running dry, which has complicated the situation further.

The farmers from various districts said that the price may go up further, if there isn't adequate supply of new potatoes in the market. To tide over the crisis, the state Agriculture Marketing department has instructed all the Sufal Bangla stalls to sell potatoes at a subsidised rate.