Since wholesalers in the main vegetable market in the Valley are not selling kurilo, most small shops are not stocking it either.
What you should know
The price of off-season vegetables, kurilo, has reached up to Rs 5,000 per kilo. The price of kurilo in the market varies - sometimes it is Rs 1,000, sometimes Rs 2,000, and sometimes even Rs 5,000 per kilo.
In season, Kurillo is available at retail shops, department stores and websites that sell fruits and vegetables through e-commerce platforms. It is not available everywhere at the moment because it is not in season. Businessmen say that it is expensive due to increased demand during the off-season.
Kurillo has not arrived at the retail market run by the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Committee since last Tuesday. Therefore, the wholesale price of Kurillo has not been updated here. After the wholesale shops in the main vegetable market in the valley did not sell Kurillo, most small shops have not sold it either.
It has been a month since the Bhairavi Vegetable Shop in Shankhamul has not sold Kurillo. Shop owner Sunita Khatiwada has not sold Kurillo because it is expensive in wholesale. ‘It costs 500 rupees, not everyone buys it,’ she said, ‘We buy it only when it is necessary.’ She said that Kurillo, which used to be available for 500 rupees in season, reached 1,000 rupees per kilo a month ago.
The prices of kurilo are also different on websites like 'Baitarkari', 'Kathmandu Organics', 'Mero Kirana', and 'Online Tarkari Pasal', which sell fruits and vegetables through digital platforms. 'Baitarkari' has priced 500 grams of kurilo at Rs 600. 'Stock' is kept as there is still kurilo. 'Kathmandu Organics' has listed the price of kurilo, but it is shown as 'out of stock'. 'Kathmandu Organics' has listed the price of kurilo at Rs 2,000 per kilogram and Rs 325 for 250 grams.
Similarly, on the 'Mero Kirana' e-commerce platform, the price of 500 grams of kurilo is set at Rs 460. On another e-commerce platform, 'Online Tarkari Pasal', the price of kurilo is set at Rs 4,999 per kilogram. The demand for kurilo has increased in Nepal after the Corona pandemic. Since doctors advised to feed corona patients, the use of kurilo in tagtila jhol has been considered the best. Even now, consumers prefer to eat kurilo soup in the cold season.
Narayan Adhikari, founder of an online vegetable shop, said that the price of vegetables keeps changing every day. ‘The price of vegetables keeps changing every day,’ he said, ‘The same is true of kurilo.’ He said that when local kurilo is available, its price is cheaper. ‘We buy from other vendors, the price increases when demand is high and production is low,’ he said, ‘It is also off-season now. Demand is high. That is why the price may have increased. The price we pay to the vendor has increased.’
In the price list determined by the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Committee on 21 Poush, the minimum price of kurilo per kilogram was 2,200 to 2,400 rupees.
On average, kurilo was bought and sold at 2,300 rupees per kilogram in the Kalimati Wholesale Market. The price has not been updated since then. The committee's information officer, Binay Shrestha, said that the kurilo arrived only until 21 Pus. After that, it has not arrived in the wholesale market.
Looking at the daily data of Kalimati Market, it is seen that the price of kurilo in the wholesale market has increased by 109.09 percent in the month of Pus alone. On 1 Pus, the average price of kurilo in the wholesale market was 1,100 rupees per kilogram, and on 21 Pus, it reached 2,300 rupees per kilogram. If we look at the average price of kurilo in the Kalimati wholesale market, the average price from 1 to 13 Pus is 1,100 rupees per kilogram. It reached 1,350 on 14 Pus, 2,200 on 19 Pus and 20 and 21 Pus. Since then, the price has not been updated.
'Since there is no transaction in the wholesale market, the price list is not kept, this is not even the season, it is the off-season,' Shrestha said, 'The consumers of kurilo are also limited. If it is available in the market, there will be no price increase. Shrestha estimates that the price of kurilo may be continuously increasing due to the lack of local kurilo and the lack of imports. According to him, kurilo is especially available in the market from Baisakh, Jestha to Asar, and only local farmers bring it within Kalimati. In the five months of the current fiscal year, 69,771 kg of kurilo worth 9.459 million has been exported. According to the Customs Department, exports from Nepal to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Norway have been reported. According to the Customs Department, the highest amount of kurilo worth 5.9 million rupees was exported to the UAE. No kurilo has been imported in the current fiscal year.
In the five months of the last fiscal year, 18,709 kg of kurilo was exported out of 2.920 million rupees. According to the Department, exports were made to Qatar, UAE, Hong Kong, Denmark, China and Norway. In that year, the highest amount of 11,921 kg of 2.531 million rupees was exported to Qatar. According to the Department, Nepal did not import kurilo during the last fiscal year. In the fiscal year 2080/081, 600 kg of kurilo was imported worth Rs 52,000. In that year, Nepal exported 76,795 kg of kurilo worth Rs 11,78,000.
Kurilo is produced in districts including Morang, Khotang, Jhapa, Kavre, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nuwakot, Dhading, Kaski, Parbat, Nawalpur, Chitwan, Dang, Pyuthan, Jajarkot. In the fiscal year 2079/80, kurilo was cultivated on an area of 270 hectares. That year, 1,318 tons of kurilo was produced. In the fiscal year 2080/81, kurilo was cultivated on an area of 288 hectares. That year, 1,489 tons of kurilo was produced.
