Fuel price hike: rice and oil producers in Kangayam are on a wait-and-watch mode

With the West Asia war resulting in shortage of packaging materials, increase in cost of several raw materials, and steep hike in petrol and diesel prices, eateries and hotels in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts have trimmed menus, increased prices, and limited serving hours.

Yet, in Kangayam, which is a major hub for production of rice and edible oils, the units are on a wait-and-watch mode.

The Kangayam rice mill owners association’s president Palaniswamy said cost of packaging materials has seen steep hike in the last six months. A 26 kg bag costs ₹31 a piece now, which is almost ₹12 more than what it was in December 2025. The transportation cost for paddy that comes to the mills and the processed rice that goes to the market will soon go up. “The demand (for rice) remains subdued usually during summer vacation. So prices will also not increase till the end of May. We will get a clear picture on the cost of inputs by the end of this month and the price of rice may go up in the coming months,” he said.

The Kangayam oil mills have also seen a jump in prices of packing materials and transport. However, the price of basic raw materials that are from farms has not increased and so the price of edible oil is also not revised for now, the oil mill owners said.

At the Coimbatore wholesale vegetable market, price of big onion on May 22 (Friday) was ₹12 to ₹16 a kg and that of potato was ₹15 to ₹25 a kg, depending on the variety. Price of tomato went up to ₹35 a kg because arrivals are reducing due to high temperature. Price of beans that comes from Karnataka was the highest at ₹150 a kg, said M. Rajendran, president of the T.K. market vegetable traders association.

Jegan Damodarasamy, CEO of the Annapoorna Group, says LPG prices have almost doubled since February, labour shortage is one of the worst in a decade, and milk and butter prices are escalated. “We trimmed the menu in March. But that led to drop in sales. We are short of almost 600 workers and had to close the AC dining hall in some of the restaurants even during the summer vacation. So, we had no option but to increase the prices now,” he added.