CHENNAI: Tomato may remain off the menu at many households in Tamil Nadu with the wholesale price of the kitchen staple reaching Rs 150 per kg at Chennai’s Koyambedu vegetable market on Sunday. The retail price was Rs 160-180 per kg in the city. Koyambedu traders said arrival of tomatoes in the market had dwindled to 250 tonnes per day against the usual 800 tonnes.
While most of the fruit comes from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, traders said they are also procuring it from Udumalaipettai and Pollachi in TN. “If there is an increase in arrival of the produce inside TN, the price might fall but as things stand it is likely to remain high for another month,” they added.
Farmers attributed the price rise to rains in the northern parts of the state as well. “When the tomato prices increased last year, we saw there was supply from the northern parts of the state. But now, we are also procuring from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The price of the first-grade tomatoes at the Chikkahole and Chamarajnagar market in Karnataka was at Rs 105 per kg on Sunday,” said Kannaiyan Subramanian, a farmer from Thalavadi. He said it is unlikely the price will fall in the near future. The high prices prevailed across the state, with tomatoes going for Rs 110 per kg at the MGR wholesale market in Coimbatore.
Madurai tomato prices zoom past Rs 200 per kg
A tipper of 15 kg was priced Rs 1,650. In Uzhavar Sandhais, the price was Rs 110 - 115 per kg while retail shops were charging Rs 130 - Rs 140 per kg. In Pudukkottai, the price reached Rs 200 per kg at the private market and Periya market in the town.
While Uzhavar Sandhais were selling it for Rs 170 per kg, the price was Rs 160 per kg at Tiruchy’s Gandhi market. Manimala M, a homemaker in Pudukkottai wondered how the family budget could be managed it they were to spend Rs 200 on one staple.
The price of tomatoes reached an “unprecedented” high in Madurai, according to traders at the Mattuthavani market, with one 15kg crate costing Rs 2,000. While the wholesale price per kg of tomato crossed Rs 150 in the temple city on Sunday, retail price crossed Rs 200.
N Chinnamayan, the president of the Central Market All Traders Federation in Madurai, said, “In my 35 years of working as a vegetable trader in Madurai, I have never seen one 15-kg crate of tomatoes being sold at more than Rs 1,500. I have also not seen tomato prices remaining above Rs 100 per kg for over a month.”
Rajesh, a consumer, who bought a small amount of tomatoes at a weekly market in Avaniyapuram, said, “At first, the price of tomatoes was just Rs 10 per kg, but after a few weeks, the price skyrocketed to Rs 100, then to Rs 150, and now to Rs 200 per kg. We have stopped making dishes that require many tomatoes.”