Covid blues: Double whammy for Ludhiana kite traders as prices rise, sales dive

The ripples of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the farmers’ agitation, are being felt in the city’s kites business as well.

Even as kite flying is expected to pick up in Ludhiana in the run up to Lohri, the prices of kites and strings are noticing an uptick of 15-20%.

Apart from low supply due to the pandemic, high transportation cost, as the transporters have to take a detour on their way from Uttar Pradesh to Punjab due to the farmers protest at Delhi borders, is also contributing to the price rise.

This is double whammy for traders, as Gurpreet Singh, a shopkeeper in Daresi, explains: “While the demand for kites has anyway dropped due to financial constraints caused by the Covid outbreak, the higher prices will elicit an even poorer response ahead of Lohri.”

According to traders dealing in kites, their stocks were supplied from Tulsipur and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. But due to the farmers protesting at Delhi borders, transporters were forced to take alternative routes, which was making transport costlier and ultimately reflecting in the cost of kites.

Bittu, a shopkeeper in Model Town market, says the demand for kites was at an all-time low. “As kite business is seasonal, we normally offer the products from December 1. But, this time we opened the shops in the mid of December. Yet, customers were few and far between,” he adds.

Another shopkeeper in Daresi area, Gaurav says, “Even the supply of wood, used to make kites, has been hit. Bigger kites are manufactured in Punjab itself, but the wood used for them is not available nowadays. Any wood available is being supplied at higher rates, which is showing up as 15-20% spike in kite prices.”