Retail tomato prices have surged up to Rs 140 per kg in the Delhi-NCR region due to a supply disruption from the producing centres owing to rains. Wholesale prices of tomatoes in the capital’s Azadpur Mandi—Asia’s largest wholesale fruits and vegetables market—were ruling in the range of Rs 60-120 per kg, depending on quality on Monday. Mother Dairy’s Safal was selling tomatoes at Rs 99 per kg a day prior. Online retailer Otipy was quoting tomato hybrid prices at Rs 140 per kg while BigBasket priced tomatoes at Rs 105-110 per kg on Monday. “The increase in prices of tomato is due to tight supply from the key producing centres. Because of rainfall, the supply is disrupted,” Azadpur Tomato Association President Ashok Kaushik told reporters.
The supply from neighbouring Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan was exhausted quickly owing to rainfall. Now, Himachal Pradesh has become the sole supplier of tomatoes for the national capital region. The hill state is also receiving heavy rains, which has impacted picking and transportation, Kaushik added. Traders are unable to get supplies from the producing centres of Maharashtra and Karnataka, as prices out there are ruling high due to rains, he noted. Kaushik said, “A crate of 25 kg is quoted somewhere between Rs 2,400 to 3,000. The rate per kg of tomato at producing centres is Rs 100-120 per kg. Traders cannot afford to bring the commodity to Delhi at such high rates”. Once the rainfall situation improves in southern states in the next 15 days, the supply of tomatoes is expected to improve in the Delhi-NCR region, he said, adding that till then, prices will remain firm. The government has maintained that the price rise in tomatoes is a “seasonal” phenomenon.
Another important reason for the spike in prices has been a fall in ‘arrivals’—the quantity of produce brought in to mandis across the country. Daily mandi arrivals of tomatoes fell from an average of about 12,500-13,000 tonnes in mid-June to about 9,300 tonnes towards the end of the month. Between 1 June and 28 June, a total of 346,100 tonnes of tomatoes came into mandis across India.
