According to a senior government official, tomato prices are projected to drop in the next 15 days with an increase in supply from producing centers and return to normal in a month. Retail costs of the kitchen essential have increased by more than Rs 100 per kg in key cities.
In a media conference, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh further said that thanks to enhanced supply from the Himachal Pradeshi districts of Solan and Sirmaur, tomato retail prices in the nation’s capital would fall right away.
“Every year at this time, the tomato price increase phenomenon occurs. Every country’s agricultural product experiences seasonality in the pricing cycle. Prices rose significantly in June,” he said. The weather fragility that has recently become common owing to climate change and other factors has disrupted the supply for tomatoes, which are also a very perishable item, he noted. The secretary said, “You cannot carry tomato across a long distance when it is stored for a long period. The commodity has a built-in vulnerability. Another important problem is transportation. He said that the lean production seasons of June through August and October through November are also when prices often rise significantly.
He said that the average retail price of tomatoes throughout all of India was Rs 49 per kg on June 29 as opposed to Rs 51.50 per kg on the same day a year before, and he added, “I am not defending the amount. This supports seasonality as well. The secretary acknowledged that it is a complicated issue, but asserted that the government is managing it and working to find a way to organize the supply year-round. A Grand Tomato Challenge was started on Friday to help with this. According to him, it is similar to a hackathon where ideas on the primary processing, storage, and valorisation of tomatoes are solicited from students to industry stakeholders. The Department of Consumer Affairs’ statistics shows that on June 30, the average retail price of tomatoes throughout all of India was Rs 56.58 per kg. The average price per kilogram is Rs 100, while the highest price per kilogram is Rs 123.
Tomatoes sell for Rs 80 per kg in Delhi, Rs 48 per kg in Mumbai, Rs 105 per kg in Kolkata, and Rs 88 per kg in Chennai. The costs were Rs 54 per kg in Bengaluru, Rs 100 per kg in Bhopal and Lucknow, Rs 80 in Shimla, Rs 98 in Bhubaneshwar, and Rs 99 in Raipur, among other important cities.
