Mint Explainer: Why are tomato prices shooting up again?
₹150-170 a kilo last week. Mint explains why. Tomato prices started shooting up again last Friday.
In Delhi, prices have surged to ₹250-260 a kilo. It is selling for ₹150-200 a kilo in New Delhi’s Azadpur mandi, Asia’s biggest wholesale market for vegetables. Mother Dairy sold tomatoes at ₹259 a kilo on August 2.
The supply of tomatoes from Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra has dropped significantly as their own stocks are being depleted. After the government launched tomato-procurement drives in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and sent them to cities in north India, purchases have gained momentum. Consumers in Delhi, who were limiting their tomato purchases before the government’s intervention, started to buy them again after the government began selling them at ₹90 a kg and then ₹70 a kg.
Supply, however, failed to match demand. Nearly 80% of the tomato crop in Himachal Pradesh was damaged by floods. Extreme weather also damaged 40-50% of tomatoes in Bengaluru.
At present, the daily supply of tomatoes to Azadpur mandi is around 10-12 tonnes as against the usual 18-22 tonnes. Bengaluru and Himachal Pradesh cater to the demand of north India during June-August, before tomatoes start arriving from Maharashtra. Prices are unlikely to fall to ₹20-40 a kg in the coming months as supply is expected to remain tight throughout the year.
Prices are expected to cool off to ₹70-100 a kilo with the arrival of fresh tomatoes from Maharashtra at the end of August. Until then, prices in north India are likely to remain high, and even increase further. According to local traders, tomatoes are traded at ₹100-130 a kilo in wholesale markets.
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