While most of the vegetables are commanding high prices during the festival, the drop in prices of dry fruits has brought relief to common people. The drop in price has pushed demand and in around two weeks, more than 4,000 tonnes of dry fruits arrived in the wholesale market in Vashi. Traders say that there is around a 20 per cent drop in dry fruits price due to ongoing COVID pandemic and a trade tussle between the US and China. According to traders, the actual sales is difficult to assess due to the open market, however, there has been huge arrival of dry fruits at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Vashi. “There is always good demand for dry fruits like raisin, almonds, and cashew. However, the drop in prices has pushed the demand,” said a trader from APMC, Vashi. He added that around 3,800 to 4,000 tonnes of different varieties of dry fruits arrived in the market since the beginning of November. During the lockdown, the demand went down sharply and huge inventory was lying with traders. “Whatever imported before the lockdown could not be sold as most of the sweet shops were closed where dry fruits have maximum demand,” said the trader. He added that due to trade issues, the cost of dry fruits has also dropped in other countries, leading to the overall cost of the product. “Almonds which used to sell above Rs 700 per kg is now available even at Rs 500 per kg,” said the trader. As per the APMC administration, the wholesale market has a maximum arrival of almonds, followed by walnut. “Around 1,500 tonnes of almonds arrived in the market which is why the price has come down to a record low,” said the trader. Normally, the price of dry fruits especially almonds increases due to a rise in demand. However, huge supply brought cheers among buyers. Neha Nigam, a resident of Nerul, says that we have decided to gift dry fruits during this Diwali as it is not under my budget.