Rains will bring down vegetable prices: K'taka Agri Minister

Attributing the rise in vegetables prices across the state to drought, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Thursday said the agricultural production will get a boost with recent rains eventually bringing down the prices.

Byre Gowda said inadequate rainfall in the last seven to eight months led to severe drop in production.

"We had a terrible drought in the last seven to eight months due to which production dropped and as a result the vegetable prices went up," he said.

"Rains have picked up in the last one month. So, the production of fruits, vegetables and cereals is likely to be positive. So, very soon I think there will be an improvement in supply and that should moderate the prices at the retail end," he added.

He said even the demand of pulses have gone up, which has led to hike in price.

Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged to 5.76 percent in May on the back of hefty increase in vegetable prices. It was 5.47 percent in April.

Rising for the second month in a row, CPI for the month of May witnessed a rise in prices of food items, including vegetables.

According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), overall food inflation increased to 7.55 percent in May as against 6.32 percent in the previous month.