Slowdown pinch: families struggle to meet rising food costs

Take the case of Jasbir Kaur whose family depends solely on her son’s income of Rs 25,000 a month. Kaur’s family has had to cut down on milk consumption considerably to curtail household expenditure.

“Almost all vegetables have become more expensive. We were spending Rs 1000 to Rs 1,200 on vegetables last year,but now we spend over Rs 2000,” said Jasbir Kaur. “We can hardly cut down on food. But we do not buy more than 1.5 litres of milk a day. Earlier,we would buy up to Rs 2.5 litres,” Kaur said. The cost of milk has gone up by Rs 2 more per litre compared to last year.

The expenditure on food has doubled for most families over the last year due to rising costs of vegetables and pulses. Most families are spending Rs 600 to Rs 900 extra on vegetables for each month.

Apart from cabbage and tomato,all other vegetables are selling between Rs 30 to Rs 50 per kg in retail. Everyday items like potatoes and onions cost between Rs 25 to Rs 30 per kg. Beetroot comes for Rs 25 per kg.

Vegetable vendors agree that a family of four would have to spend at least Rs 20 more per day,if they had to consume the same quantity of vegetables as last year.

The price of lemon,which was selling at less than a rupee last year,is Rs 3 a piece.

The price of pulses has also increased considerably. Moong dal costs between Rs 90 to Rs 100 per kg,even if the latter is more in demand.

“Families are paying double the prices they paid last year,” said Nitin Nahar,a pulses trader.

“We are noticing that the higher income families are absorbing the inflation and shelling out the amount. However,many families have cut down their pulses consumption by half,” Nahar said.

Wheat has remained steady in the market — one kg of wheat flour is available at Rs 30 per kg — while the price of rice has been rising.

Compared to last year,families have been paying at least Rs 10 more per kg for rice. The price of basmati rice has risen by Rs 20 to Rs 30 per kg.