Tomato touches Rs 100 per kg, vegetable prices on the rise

The festival season is round the corner, but the soaring prices of vegetables have added to people’s worry. It’s the second time in the past few months that prices of tomato have reached Rs 100 per kg in wholesale market compared to Rs 80 last week.

Radheshyam, a vegetable vendor in Sector 26, who solely deals in tomatoes, blames it on spoilt crop in Maharashtra’s Nashik due to virus and unseasonal rain in the region in the past few weeks. “The supply from Nashik has completely stopped. Only one truck has reached here and we are not expecting more consignments in coming weeks. Most of the tomato that is now available in the local market is being brought from Himachal Pradesh for the time being to fill the demand-supply gap,” the vendor added.

“Higher prices, however, don’t bring much profit to us. There’s Rs 30-40 increase in the prices of most vegetables that have limited shelf life. Unlike onion or garlic, tomato can neither be bought in bulk nor be stored for a potential profit,” the vendor said.

The costly tomato has put burden on families who budget everything from spent on vegetables and groceries to family outings. “I have especially come to Sector 26 mandi to buy tomatoes as street vendors charge little extra. Vendors are attracting customers with slogans like: ‘lahsun, tamatar jo padosi se chupana pade’ (One has to hide garlic and tomatoes from neighbours). Their saying is going to become true if the prices will keep on rising,” a city resident said.

However, the prices of coriander, lemon and ginger have come down due to abundant availability. Another vegetable vendor, Gittan Singh, shared, “Till Tuesday morning I was selling tomatoes Rs 80-100 per kg, but as soon as we got bulk supply, the prices went down and I am now selling it at Rs 60-65/kg.”