Tomatoes prices may surge more than ₹100 kg

Tomato prices are expected to rise by more than 100 per kilo due to a major shortage, according to a story in The Hindu. Last week, tomato rates had risen to more than 80 percent. On Sunday, a 15-kg crate of tomatoes was sold for 1,100 in Kolar wholesale APMC market, according to the English daily. This will have an immediate impact on the city’s retail market.

A farmer told the daily about the rise in tomato price saying that the sowing of the fruit was lower this year as compared to the previous year. Anji Reddy told The Hindu that farmers in Kolar switched to the sowing of beans this year as the prices of beans skyrocketed last year. However due to deficient monsoon crops dried up. The tomatoes would be only 30% of the usual.

Farmers’ lack of interest in tomato cultivation stems from the crash in the price of the crop last month. In May, tomato rates crashed to  ₹3-5 per kg. Many farmers were forced to throw away their produce by driving tractors through the crop.

With tomato deficiency in Maharashtra, buyers are moving to West Bengal, Odisha, and even for export to Bangladesh to meet demands.

In Delhi’s Azadpur wholesale market, the tomato rate has doubled in the last two days. A tomato trader told the Economic Times that they are not receiving tomatoes from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana due to shortage and now relying on Bengaluru for supply.

Apart from onions and potatoes, the prices of other vegetables have gone northward. The price of a kg of beans is in the range of ₹120- ₹140, prices of some varieties of carrots are inching the ₹100 mark, and capsicum prices have crossed  ₹80 per kg. In addition to vegetables, egg prices have surged in the range of  ₹7- ₹8 kilos.