evidence: AMARAVATI: The export market has driven chilli prices in retail market northwards. The price per quintal is hovering between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000. Sources said there is huge demand for chilli from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the UAE. Exports to these nations have gone up steadily for the past two years but the demand has surged unprecedentedly in the current season. [...] The prices were around `8,000 to `14,000 per quintal during the last season. The arrival of stock in the biggest market place for chilli trade in Asia, Guntur Agriculture Market Yard, have come down in the last three weeks as agents of traders went to fields to pick up leftover stocks from farmers. Merchants are lifting stocks directly from farms and shifting to cold storages without bringing to the market yard.