NEW DELHI: The government has further slashed the price of tomatoes to Rs 70 from the earlier subsidized price of Rs 90 to provide further relief to consumers, mainly in Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The price of tomatoes was reduced in Delhi-NCR by 20 per cent.
The Department of Consumer Affairs had started market intervention by selling cheaper tomatoes by July 14 at Rs 90. The government sold 391 metric tonnes of tomatoes by July 18, 2023. In the meantime, the government has claimed a decreasing trend in the wholesale price of tomatoes.
However, data shows that other major cities like Lucknow, Bhopal, Howrah, Bengaluru and Chennai are yet to see any impact except Delhi. The price of tomatoes has reduced in Delhi to Rs 120 from Rs 150 whereas other cities are yet to see much change.
Moreover, a new survey shows that tomatoes are not being bought by the majority of households and those who chose to consume them are paying more than Rs 100 per kg.
India’s leading Community social media platform LocalCircles has surveyed thousands of households from 304 districts and showed that there is a slight reduction in the price of tomatoes.
According to the survey, only seven per cent of households surveyed have availed of subsidized tomatoes whereas the majority of households surveyed are still paying more than Rs 100/kg for tomatoes. 15% of surveyed households stopped buying tomatoes.
However, the majority of households surveyed acknowledged that there was a slight reduction in prices compared to the previous week.
Unseasonal rain and outbreak of the leaf curl disease caused by begomoviruses reduced production. Besides, adverse weather conditions also disrupted temporarily supply chain often leading to spikes in prices. The planting cycle also varies in different states.
The government’s agencies National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) had procured tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The southern and Western regions of the country are major producers of tomatoes, contributing around 58% of all India production. The peak harvesting season of tomatoes occurs from December to February.
Table: Price of tomatoes in the past week:
City | July 12(Rs/kg) | July 19 (Rs/kg) |
Delhi | 150 | 120 |
Lucknow | 143 | 145 |
Bhopal | 105 | 110 |
Howrah | 147 | 147 |
Bengaluru | 95 | 105 |
Chennai | 123 | 132 |
Source: Dept. of Consumer Affairs