“To produce a large amount of chili peppers, the weather must cooperate, the water supply should be abundant and the demand should be less than the supply,” said James Reyes a helper at the Tuesday market.
He said they can only sell about five to 10 pounds of hot pepper in a week even with the current weather.
“Chili peppers are easy to grow but the plants cannot continuously produce [fruits],” he added.
“Sometimes we have to wait for two to three weeks before one plant can produce abundant fruits,” he said.
A Chinese vendor known only as “My Friend,” said he seldom sells peppers as his supplier has already ran out of them.
“Maybe during the El Niño season, producing chili peppers will be harder,” he said.
Reyes and other vendors said the peppers will be more expensive.
A small pouch of chili peppers currently costs $1, but this may increase from $1.50 to $2 during the El Niño season, which is expected to start this month and end in June.
