Pre-festival sales down, flower, fruit sellers hope for brisk Monday at Koyambedu market

CHENNAI: While festival seasons mean brisk business for flower and fruit sellers, the scene ahead of Chithrai Tamil New Year falling on Monday is rather muted.

Usually, sales are brisk couple of days ahead of ‘Chithrai’ and Vishu festivals celebrated by Tamils and Malayalees, respectively, but this time, no huge sales have been recorded compared to last year for neither fruits nor flowers, and prices remain almost the same, claimed Koyambedu wholesale traders.

A few wholesale fruit sellers and flower vendors at Koyambedu market told DT Next that compared to last year, sales have been low this year before the festival time, and they even saw a dip even though the New Year fell close to a Sunday. Now, they are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping the sales would pick up on Monday.

While the flower prices were hovering between Rs 100 and Rs 600 per kg in the wholesale market, they were significantly low during the weekend. At Rs 500-Rs 600 per kg, ‘kanakambaram’ was the priciest on Sunday.

Marigold sold at Rs 160 – Rs 180 per kg, Jasmine was at Rs 300 per kg in the evening, a minor improvement from Rs 240 in the morning.

Chocolate rose sold at Rs 140 per kg, panneer rose at Rs 100 per kg, sampangi at Rs 120-140 per kg, arali at Rs 200 – Rs 300 per kg.

"The celebration of the Tamil new year is not very spirited like the English new year. When a festival falls on a Monday, it affects the weekday sales,” said S Mookiah, former president of Koyambedu Wholesale Flower Merchants Association.

Similarly, in the fruit market, the sales were not up to the mark for the past two days, while it was back to normal on Sunday.

During summer, people prefer fruits with high water content, like watermelon (Rs 10 per kg) and musk melon (Rs 20-Rs 35 per kg). During festivals, fruits like apples, sweet lime, sweet oranges, chikoo and grapes are not in high demand.

"Apples are selling at Rs 3,500 per box (18 kg), oranges at Rs 1,150 per box (18 kg), chikoo at Rs 20- Rs 60 per kg, panneer grapes at Rs 250 per box (5.5 kg) and seedless grapes at Rs 600 per box (9 kg)," said Srinivasan, a wholesale fruit seller.

The first day of the Tamil month Chithrai falls on Monday, April 14, and Tamils will celebrate it as the ‘Puthandu’ new year. The Tamil community here, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of the world as well celebrate the festival with joy and enthusiasm. Considered an auspicious day, poojas are held, with flowers decorating homes and fruits offered to deities.