After steep increase in retail price of onions in the city, Delhiites have now been hit hard by a sharp hike in the price of tomatoes. With a two to three-fold hike in the recent past, the wholesale rates of tomatoes have reportedly touched Rs 45 a kg in the last couple of weeks at different wholesale markets of the national capital.
The retail price of tomatoes has soared to Rs 70 per kg in the national capital region (NCR). Traders are predicting a further hike in the coming days as the supply of tomatoes is said to have gone down by 60 per cent in the recent past. Some traders say that this trend was likely to continue for at least five to six weeks as fresh stock of tomatoes was expected to reach the city only by December-end.
The increase in the price of tomatoes is primarily due to unprecedented rain in the tomato-producing states. By October-end, tomatoes were available at Rs 25-Rs 35 per kg in the retail market, and at Rs 15-Rs 20 per kg in the wholesale market. Even Safal and Mother Dairy outlets are reportedly selling tomatoes at Rs 50-Rs 70 per kg, which is almost double of what it was a fortnight ago.
A wholesale trader said that tomatoes were being sold at a very cheap price about three weeks ago, but the prices have drastically shot up due to acute shortage. He said that Azadpur Mandi, which used to get 35 to 40 truckloads of tomatoes every day, has been receiving only a dozen-odd trucks in the past two to three weeks. The trade of tomatoes is said to have also hit in Okhla, Ghazipur and Keshav Puram mandis.
The sudden spurt in the price of tomatoes is being attributed mainly to almost complete stoppage of its supply from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other nearby states.
Even the other tomato-producing states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka are also supplying less than half of their total supplies. Another wholesale trader said that heavy rains have badly hit the crop and the mandis of tomato-producing states have little quantity left for their local usage.
