Flower prices spiral ahead of festivals

CHENNAI: With festivals round the corner, flowers are becoming dearer and are likely to cost more until late September.
Their sale almost doubled in the Koyambedu market on Thursday ahead of Varalakshmi Vratham on Friday. The sales will remain high due to Onam which falls on Monday, and avani avatam and Gayathri Japam which fall on Monday and Tuesday.
T S Harikrishnan, a wholesale vegetable vendor in Koyambedu market, said jasmine was being sold for Rs 400 per kg against the Rs 200 per kg earlier this week, while lotus cost Rs 10 each against Rs 2 on Monday.The price of rose increased from Rs 20 to Rs 40 (100 numbers) while champak was being sold for Rs 150 per kg against Rs 80 per kg a few days ago.
While crossandra (kanakambaram) sold for Rs 300 per kg as against Rs 100 to Rs 150 per kg on Monday, chrysanthemum (samanthi) cost Rs 100 per kg on Thursday compared Rs 50 early this week. According to wholesalers, Koyambedu market gets five lorries and ten vans of different flowers every day which are sold by 430 shops in the market.
"The flower price usually goes down by the evening. But today, we saw an increase in the price by the hour," said Loknathan, a flower vendor in Mugappair. Some temple administrators even said that the wholesalers refused to sell the usual quota of flowers. "We usually buy more than 100 yards of chrysanthemum and jasmine. Today, they did not give us anything more than 20 yards," said Saravana Subramanian, administrative officer of a Ganesha temple in Anna Nagar.