Tomato prices up on rains, crop seasonality, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

tomato prices has been driven by a raft of factors, including crop seasonality and heavy monsoon downpours, and the government has taken a series of steps to address inflationary pressure in essential commodities, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament on Monday. White fly disease in Kolar district of Karnataka, heavy monsoon showers in parts of northern India and logistics disruptions in isolated areas in the wake of floods are also to be blamed for the sudden surge in tomato prices, the minister said in a reply to the Lok Sabha.

She also said prices of pulses like arhar have gone up due to lower production this year. The average retail price of tomato in the country has jumped five times over the past two months to about ₹136 per kg now, according to the consumer affairs ministry data.

The average price of tur/arhar has gone up 9% in these two months, the data showed. Sitharaman highlighted measures initiated to augment supplies of essential commodities and soften blow to consumers.

These steps include timely releases of onion and pulses from the buffer stock, imposition of stock limits to traders, wholesalers and retailers, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding, changes in trade policy instruments like the rationalisation of import duty, tweaks in the import quota and restrictions on exports of select commodities. Following government orders, the National Cooperative Consumers' Forum of India and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India have also procured tomatoes from producing states for easy supplies to consumption centres, the minister said.