The prices of petroleum fuels have almost continuously risen between January and October this year. While the rise in price of domestic and commercial cooking gas has thrown domestic budgets into disarray, traders and suppliers are bogged down by the steep rise in the price of diesel.
The price of petrol has risen from about ₹84 a litre in January to more than ₹110 in November. Similarly diesel price has risen from around ₹78 a litre to more than ₹103 in November.
Transporters are demanding up to 70% hike in transport charges on vegetable loads from different destinations reaching markets such as Kochi, says N.H. Shameed of the Market Stall Owners’ Association.
The cost of transport comes to between ₹100 and ₹110 per 70 kg packets and each lorry load mostly brings around 14 tonnes of vegetables. A steep rise in fuel price means the increased cost will be pushed on to the ordinary buyers even as some of the items such as tomato, big onion, beans, and bhindi are seeing a rise in both wholesale and retail prices because of a shortage of supply, he says.
The rise in diesel price will also affect about 10.5 lakh poor fishers and those working in the fisheries sector, says Joseph Xavier Kalapurackal of the Boat Operators’ Association.
He says most fishers are keeping off the seas and plan to venture out only during the peak season to optimise the catch. Each normal fishing expedition by a mechanised boat requires about 400 litres of diesel, meaning that the cost of fuel alone will be ₹4 lakh.
The cost of transporting fertilizers has almost doubled, pushing suppliers to impose additional charges on even small and medium farmers, says Joseph Karukappally, rubber farmer and a supplier of chemicals and fertilizers.
The price of domestic cooking gas has risen from a little over ₹700 per 14.2 kg cylinders to more than ₹900 in November. Similarly, the price of commercial LPG cylinders (19 kg) has gone up from less than ₹1,530 in February this year to over ₹1,900 in November. Hoteliers say they have to cope with the current situation even as COVID-19 has brought the hospitality business to its knees.
