Tomato prices shot up sharply in the retail markets on Sunday as monsoon rains and less season led to tomato prices crossing the Rs 250 per kg mark in major cities.
As per government data, the all-India average price of tomato was around Rs 117 per kg. However, the Center made efforts to provide relief to the consumers. The government started selling tomatoes at a subsidized price of Rs 90 per kg in select cities like Delhi-NCR, Patna and Lucknow.
Government data showed that around 18,000 kg of tomatoes were sold through mobile vans in Delhi-NCR on Saturday. The National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) are selling tomatoes through mobile vans on behalf of the Centre.
Union Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh tweeted, “Besides various parts of Delhi and Noida, sale of tomatoes at subsidized rates begins today in Lucknow, Patna and Muzaffarpur.”
About 18,000 kg of tomatoes were sold to retail consumers in Delhi-NCR, the Department of Consumer Affairs said in a statement. It added, “It seems to have had an effect as today in Azadpur mandi (wholesale) price fell heavily and retail price marginally fell.”
“We started the sale in Lucknow today and 7,000 kgs were sold. Tomorrow, we will intervene in the retail market in Kanpur while continuing the intervention in Delhi and Lucknow,” the department said.
From Sunday, the NCCF plans to sell tomatoes through around 100 Kendriya Bhandar outlets in the national capital. It is in talks with Mother Dairy to sell tomatoes through its 400 Safal retail outlets in Delhi-NCR.
According to the data compiled by the Department of Consumer Affairs, the average all-India retail price of tomato was Rs 116.86 per kg on Saturday, while the maximum rate was Rs 250 per kg and the minimum rate was Rs 25 per kg. The model price of tomato is Rs 100 per kg.
Among metros, tomato was priced at Rs 178 per kg in Delhi, followed by Rs 150 per kg in Mumbai and Rs 132 per kg in Chennai. The highest price was Rs 250 per kg in Hapur. Tomato prices generally increase during the July-August and October-November periods, which are generally low production months. There has been a sharp increase in rates due to supply disruption due to monsoon.
(with PTI inputs)
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