Wholesalers increased prices of fruits like apple, Chinese pears, local pears, water melon, banana, pineapple and sweet orange in range of Rs 10 to Rs 25 per kg on Tuesday, compared to last Tuesday. Mustang apple and pomegranate have become dearer by Rs 30 per kg each.
Officials of Nepal Fruits Wholesaler Association (NFWA) said fruit prices have increased despite rise in supplies by about 50 percent. The Kuleshwar market received an average of 90 tons of fruits a day over the week, up from around 60 tons a day recorded last week. “The price went up because the increased supply was still lower than the swollen festive demand,” said Arjun Parsad Humagain, a wholesaler at the fruits market.[break]
Wholesalers on the day charged Rs 150 for a kg of apple from retailers, whereas they had traded it at Rs 135 per kg last week. The price of Chinese apples too increased to Rs 110 per kg from last Tuesday´s Rs 90 per kg. Likewise, the prices of small and big sweet oranges soared on the day by Rs 20 per kg each to Rs 90 and Rs 100 per kg respectively, while the Chinese pears became expensive by Rs 20 per kg compared to Rs 100 per kg of last week. Local pears too were sold at Rs 45 per kg on Tuesday, compared to Rs 30 per kg of last week.
"Papaya has become expensive by Rs 10 per kg and were sold at Rs 60 per kg on Tuesday," said Humagain, adding that the price of pomegranate on the day increased by Rs 30 per kg to Rs 250 per kg. Pineapple too was priced Rs 80 per piece, compared to last week´s Rs 65 per piece, while bananas cost Rs 45 per dozen, up from last week´s Rs 37 per dozen. Price of watermelon too increased by Rs 18 per kg and was sold at Rs 130 per kg on Tuesday.
Owing to the rise in demand, Humagain said daily transaction at his store has increased by 20 percent and daily transactions hovered at Rs 75,000 per day over the past couple of days.
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