The severe flooding and landslides that Nepal has faced for the last few days have pushed food and vegetable prices up in Kathmandu, as roads connecting the Valley have been obstructed since Saturday.

Traders say that delays in opening the highways could push the prices of foods and vegetables further.

In the Capital, the record rainfall in 54 years inundated most of the warehouses of essential food items, traders said. The fruits and vegetable market in Balkhu has been flooded, while the Kalimati market was partially affected.

Traders say that the supply of food and fresh vegetables dropped sharply, particularly from Dhading and Kavre, the key source districts to Kathmandu, as landslides have blocked highways.

The lifeline for Kathmandu has been severed since Saturday with the Tribhuvan and Prithvi highways being blocked.

The BP Highway linking Kathmandu with eastern Tarai has also been blocked. Kalimati, which houses the country’s largest fruits and vegetables market, received 156 tonnes of vegetables on Saturday, down nearly a fourth from 571 tonnes on Friday.

“There is a supply constraint due to landslides in most of the highways connecting Kathmandu. As a result of low supply and high demand, prices of vegetables have increased,” said Binay Shrestha, information officer at the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board.

“Today [Sunday], we received only 38 tonnes of vegetables till 4:00 pm. These vegetables are from the Valley, produced on tunnel farms.”

However, tunnel farming has also been largely affected by the floods. Shrestha said that as soon as the highways are cleared, supply will become normal.

The wholesale price of most of the seasonal green vegetables has crossed the Rs100 per kg mark.

According to the board's wholesale price index, the big price of tomatoes increased by 29.41 percent to Rs110 per kg, the price of cowpeas jumped by 46.67 percent to Rs110 per kg, the bitter gourd price increased by 69.23 percent to Rs110 per kg, and the smooth gourd price increased by 80 percent to Rs135 per kg.

Potato price increased by 7.25 percent to Rs74 per kg. Other vegetables like tomato (local and tunnel), onion, carrot, cabbage, cauli local, French bean, bottle gourd, squash, green leafy vegetables, mushroom, cucumber, green chilli and coriander greens have gone up after the flood and landslide.

The vegetable price was already high, and an additional jump amid the nearing festivals has worried consumers.

According to a central bank report released last Thursday, the food and beverage inflation stood at 6.17 percent in mid-August compared to the same period last year.

Under the food and beverage category, the year-on-year price index of the vegetable sub-category increased 19.07 percent, pulses and legumes 12.09 percent, cereal grains and their products 9.15 percent, and milk products and eggs 3.66 percent.

A few wholesalers the Post talked to said that flood impacts on the warehouses have been big, which could increase the prices.

Pabitra Bajracharya, president of Nepal Retailers Association, however, said that the retailers have been less affected.

“As there is sufficient stock of food items like rice, edible oil, pulses and legumes, I do not think the prices of essential consumable goods will go up,” he said. “However, the opportunist wholesalers may hike the price on the pretext of floods and landslides.”

Retailers said that the wholesalers have already hiked the price of edible oil.

“I have been selling sunflower oil at Rs210 per litre. Today (Sunday), the distributor quoted Rs222 per litre wholesale. I have to sell the edible oil at Rs240 per litre to consumers,” said Bajracharya.

That’s a hike of 15 percent overnight. “Even I am shocked at the new rate,” said Bajracharya.

Retailers said there is no reason for the price of rice, pulses, and legumes to rise immediately as the traders have sufficient stock.

However, as most of the traders' warehouses in the Kuleshower and Balkhu area were flooded on Saturday, damaging their goods, these traders may recover the losses by passing the burden on to consumers, Bajracharya said.

Subodh Kumar Gupta, immediate past president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industries, said, “We have stocks of rice, edible oil, pulses and legumes for three months in different factories and warehouses outside the Kathmandu valley. In Kathmandu, the stocks may last a month. But the transportation problem is prolonged, and there could be a shortage of food items in Kathmandu Valley.”

Consumer rights activists said traders may create artificial shortages to jack up prices in difficult times when the government’s monitoring of the market is poor.

“The government’s supply utilities like the Food Management and Trading Company and the Salt Trading [Corporation Limited] have no sufficient stock of food. The government's preparedness to check the market price during a disaster like this has not been up to the mark,” said Madhav Timalsina, president of the Consumer Rights Investigation Forum.

He said it is unjustifiable to raise the prices of food, vegetables, and fruits exorbitantly because of the partial flood in the Kuleshwar area and vegetable market.

“If traders are seen hiking the prices, they need to be booked immediately.”

Even in the past, such as during the border blockade and the Covid-19 period, the government mechanism utterly failed to control the prices.