KOLKATA: If you failed to find your favourite fish in the market on Wednesday, blame it on the confusion over currency demonetization.
With money starting to trickle in, the scenario in the market has changed overnight. If the cash crunch led to a drastic fall in price of fish and vegetables in the last few days, perishable items disappeared all of a sudden on Wednesday. A few of the traders who had dared to hoard them sold the items at a premium.
"Initially, there was a distress sale by retailers as there was no flow of cash. The system virtually ran on credit. Now, there is a supply shortage and the flow of cash led to the rise of wholesale and retail prices. The trend will continue for next few days till the liquidity crunch is over and supply line is stabilized," said Prasanta Khan, a wholesale supplier.
The problem in supply line, however, persists. Payment to transporters is still an issue. Moreover, the credit line from the wholesalers to retailers continues to swell. This has adversely affected the market dynamics. Fish wholesalers, on the other hand, could not pay back bulk suppliers. "The currency crunch has disrupted the entire supply chain," said Ankur Modal of Behala fish wholesale market. "The retailers are not confident of off-taking pricey varieties lest they are not," said Amar Das, Fish Merchant Association secretary at Lake Market.
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