New Delhi: For over a month, buying tomatoes became a costly affair as the red fruit’s prices hovered between Rs 80-250 per kilogram. The tomato prices, which used to cost Rs 20-30 per kg, shot over Rs 100 across various states in the country. In a much-needed relief, tomatoes will now be available at Rs 40 per kg from today (August 20).
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Tomatoes Being Sold At Rs 40 Per Kg From Today
Cooperatives the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) are selling tomatoes at a reduced rate of Rs 40 per kilogram from August 20 amid declining price of the kitchen staple in wholesale and retail markets.
Since last month, NCCF and NAFED have been selling tomatoes at a discounted rate on behalf of the Consumer Affairs Ministry to contain the price rise. Initially, the subsidised rate was fixed at Rs 90 per kilogram which had been successively reduced in line with the decline in prices in order to ensure benefits to the consumers. “The last downward revision of the retail price to Rs 50/- per kg was on August 15, which now stands further reduced to Rs 40 per kg w.e.f. August 20,” an official statement said on Friday.
To date, over 15 lakh kilogram of tomatoes have been procured by the two agencies and are being sold to retail consumers in major consumption centres in the country, it said.
These locations include Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan (Jaipur, Kota), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj) and Bihar (Patna, Muzaffarpur, Arrah, Buxar). NCCF and NAFED are procuring tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
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Why Tomato Prices Saw Major Surge
Traders said the retail price of tomato touched up to Rs 200 per kilogramme in some parts of the country including Delhi as incessant rains disrupted supplies in the first week of July. “On sequential basis, the average retail price of tomato went up by 38.5 per cent in June. On wholesale basis as well, tomato price rose by 45.3 per cent in the same period,” Dipanwita Mazumdar, Economist at Bank of Baroda, said, according to a report by news agency PTI.
As the Rabi harvest season for tomatoes is December-June, the crop might be impacted due to heat waves or erratic rainfall, hence there is a sudden upward blip in prices. But with the arrival of July-November crop season, some easing of the trajectory might be seen.
“State-wise data reveal that Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha account for 51.5 per cent of total production of tomato. For states such as Gujarat, production has fallen by 23.9 per cent, and for Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, the drop in production is about 20 per cent,” the report stated.
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Southern And Western Regions Contribute About 60% Of Total Production
Tomato is produced in almost every state. Whereas the southern and western regions contribute about 60% to the total production of the country. The surplus production in these regions is used to ensure a continuous supply of tomatoes to other parts of India.
The major tomato-producing states in the country are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu. These States account for 91% of the total production of the country.
