Srinagar, Jan 3: With the inflation crossing a decade’s high, 2009 gave jitters to aam admi. Even as in the first half of the year inflation remained quite low, thanks to the recession across the world. The second half of the year saw reckless increase in prices.
Hike:
 Grocery items during 2009 saw a huge price increase. According to the grocers the prices of almost all items increased by 30 to 50 per cent. “The prices mostly increased in the second half of 2009.”
 The grocers said the price hike did not only affect the consumers, “it also affected us.”
 “Our sales went down by at least 30 per cent because of the price increase,” the traders said, adding that in the past decade they had never seen such a steep price increase.
 Complaining about price hike in mass consumption items like pulses, butter, oil, tea, flour, rice, sugar etc., the consumers said, “The rates in 2009 kept on changing so fast. One day we would purchase an item at one rate, and next day we would see there is a considerable increase in its price,” they said.
Item-wise increase:
 The rates of the majority of the grocery items witnessed steep increase. The prices of spices, sugar and pulses went as high as hundred per cent. Other items like soaps, oils, etc saw 30 to 40 per cent price increase. Tea, both Namkeen and Lipton witnessed more than 30 per cent increase. By the end year the prices of Namkeen tea increased by Rs 70 per kg and that of Lipton by Rs 20-30 per kg.
 The prices edible oils kept on fluctuating during the year. Flour and rice saw a huge price hike with flour going dearer by a staggering Rs 200 per quintal. The butter also witnessed a considerable price increase.
Affect on consumers:
 Consumers said the consistent increase in the prices affected their daily budgets and made many an essential item out of their reach. “Almost every item witnessed a huge price increase while the incomes did not increase at that level,” said the consumers.
Affect on business:
 According to the traders the hike decreased their business. “The price hike made the market to suffer. With a huge impact on the spending on the consumers, markets got a drubbing down,” they said.
 The traders said fluctuation in the rates of certain items also made it difficult for them to sell those goods. “When you have prices changing every day it becomes very difficult to get consumer for such items,” they said.
 The traders said even after bringing down their margins they were not able to find many customers. “Majority of the grocery items these days has printed rates and there are only few items where the rates are not mentioned,” they said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 4 Jan 2010 00:00:00 IST