No sweet seduction

Also, most of the wholesalers didn't even have the ingredients till 10 days ago. So I was unable to take orders, as I couldn't be sure I would be able to deliver," said Anand, who has hiked prices by 20 per cent.

No shortage

Pradeep Jain, general secretary of the Mumbai Sweetsellers Association, said that in the case of items like sugar, prices have doubled. "Thankfully, we haven't faced a shortage or else we would have been badly hit," said Jain.

Buyers' speak

Yogesh Mehta, a stockbroker from Irla, said, "We usually buy 30 kg of sweets for the staff in our family business.

But this year, we are offering them chocolates instead." Anuradha Kumar from Goregaon said, "Every year, we would buy around 2 kg ofu00a0 kaju barfi, but this year, we opted for the cheaper alternative of laddoo."

Rise in costs

Product	2009	2008
Sugar	Rs 32/kg	Rs 17/kg
Ghee	Rs 250-275/kg	Rs 190-215/kg
Milk	Rs 36-38/litre	Rs 28-30/litre

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!