The Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of ₹90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans.
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena

The Centre will sell tomatoes at ₹80 per kg from July 16, as against ₹90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets.

On Friday, the Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of ₹90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans. More cities were added on Saturday.

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“There has been a decrease in the wholesale prices of tomatoes due to the intervention of the government to sell it at a concessional rate of ₹90 per kg, at several locations in the country where the prices were ruling exceptionally high,” an official statement said.

“After a re-assessment of the situation from across 500 plus points in the country, it has been decided to sell it at ₹80 per kg from today Sunday July 16th, 2023,” it added.

Sales have started on Sunday at several points in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah through cooperatives NAFED and NCCF, the statement said.

The sale of tomatoes at discounted price will be expanded to more cities from Monday depending upon the prevailing market prices at such locations.

“The government of India is committed to provide relief to the consumers,” the statement said.

The National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) are selling tomatoes on behalf of the Centre through mobile vans.

Prices of tomatoes in the retail market remain at an elevated level of up to ₹250 per kg across major cities due to monsoon rains and lean season.

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The all-India average price stood at nearly ₹117 per kg on Saturday, according to the government.

As per the data compiled by the Department of Consumer Affairs, the average all-India retail price of tomatoes was ruling at ₹116.86 per kg on Saturday, while the maximum rate was ₹250 per kg and the minimum was ₹25 per kg. Modal price of tomatoes was ₹100 per kg.

Among metros, tomatoes were ruling at ₹178 per kg in Delhi, followed by ₹150 per kg in Mumbai, and ₹132 per kg in Chennai.

The maximum price of ₹250 per kg was in Hapur.

Tomato prices normally shoot up during July-August and October-November periods, which are generally lean production months.

Supply disruption caused due to the monsoon has led to a sharp rise in the rates.

Speaking to PTI, NCCF Managing Director Anice Joseph Chandra said tomatoes are being procured from Madanapalli (Andhra Pradesh), Kolar (Karnataka) and Sanganeri (Maharashtra) NCCF has already sold 35,000 kg of tomatoes in the last two days. It expects to sell 20,000 kg in Delhi-NCR on Sunday, 15,000 kg in Varanasi, 10,000 kg each in Lucknow and Kanpur, she said.

NCCF sold about 7,000 kg in Lucknow on Saturday and this itself helped to bring down the wholesale rate from ₹130 per kg to ₹115 per kg, she noted.

Joseph Chandra said, “Further reduction in the price to ₹80 per kg will further cool down the prices in the coming days. We will continue to intervene till the price stabilizes.” Currently, NCCF is selling tomatoes through its mobile vans and 4-5 outlets owned by NAFED in Delhi-NCR. It will start the sale via retail outlets of Kendriya Bhandar from Sunday.

Also Read | June inflation quickens to 4.8% as food prices climb

Southern and western regions contribute 56% to 58% of tomato production. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

After tomato prices rocketed to ₹200 per kg in some cities, the Centre decided on Wednesday to use its agencies to procure stocks from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and sell them at a discount in the areas where prices remained high.

Rains and floods in Himachal Pradesh have caused transportation disruptions, leading the prices to rise further in northern cities. Bathinda in Punjab recorded the highest price — ₹203 for a kilo of tomatoes — in the country on July 12. The national average price of the day was ₹111.71. Last year, on the same date, the price was ₹40.83.

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The Department of Consumer Affairs directed the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) to immediately procure tomatoes from markets in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for distribution in major consumption centres where retail prices have recorded the biggest increase in the last one month. “The stocks of tomato will be distributed through retail outlets at discounted prices to the consumers in Delhi-NCR region by Friday,” a government release said.

According to data shared by the Ministry, Himachal Pradesh is the only State where tomatoes are harvested in July. The Ministry had said earlier that the increase in price is seasonal and would come down when stocks from Himachal Pradesh reached vegetable markets in the northern parts of the country. “The prices will stay high for the next 15-20 days. It will not go higher,” the official said.

The Ministry said targeted centres for release have been identified on the basis of absolute increase in retail prices over the past one month in centres where prices are above the all-India average. The Ministry said southern and western regions of the country contribute 56% to 58% of all India production. “Southern and western regions being surplus States, feed to other markets depending on production seasons,” the Ministry said. It added that supplies are coming mostly from Maharashtra’s Satara, Narayangaon and Nashik areas and stocks are expected to last till July end.

Tomato inflation: The wholesale price of the tomatoes for the first-grade variety stood above Rs. 100 per kg in many parts of India by the last week of June

The sudden and rapid fall in the quantity of tomatoes brought to various mandis across India in the last week of June created a demand-supply mismatch. This led to a rapid increase in the retail price of the staple vegetable. The price of tomato zoomed past ₹100 per kilogramme (kg) mark on the last day of June in at least 50 cities, most of them in Uttar Pradesh, where the degree of fall in quantity at mandis was relatively high compared to other States.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the modal retail price of a kg of tomato in India in the past one month.

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Modal price is the price at which a kg of tomato is bought most frequently in markets across the country on a day. In the first 24 days of June, the modal price was ₹20 per kg. In the last week of June, the modal price surged to over ₹50 per kg. On the last day of the month, it peaked at ₹100 per kg.

The factors behind the abrupt fall in the quantity of tomatoes brought to mandis varied across India. In general, yield suffered due to relatively high temperatures during summer. Moreover, unusually sharp spells of rain in the northern States also impacted production. The fact that July-August is a lean production period compounded the problem. Reports show that many farmers in the Kolar district of Karnataka shifted to beans owing to the higher prices the vegetable fetched last year.

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Chart 2 | The chart plots the quantity of tomatoes (in tonnes) that were brought to mandis across India in the last week of June between 2020 and 2023. 

This year, in the last week of June, 62,842 tonnes of tomatoes arrived at the mandis, the lowest in the last four years. In fact, this was over 50% and 80% lower than the quantity that arrived at mandis in June 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Chart 3 | The chart shows the quantity of tomatoes (in tonnes) that were brought to various mandis across India in the last four weeks of June 2023. (There were five weeks in June 2023). 

The chart shows that in the second, third and fourth weeks, the quantity brought was at the expected level, but crashed suddenly in the last (fifth) week. Compared to the second, third and fourth weeks of June 2023, the quantity in the last week declined by 55%, 45% and 35%, respectively.

Chart 4 | The chart shows the sudden rise in tomato prices. It shows the average retail price of a kg of tomato in India in June between 2009 and 2023. 

Despite the rapid increase in the retail prices in the last week of June 2023, the average price of tomato was only ₹32.5, given the much lower prices in the previous three weeks. This was lower than the average retail price of ₹52 per kg in June 2022. The June 2023 average price was also lower than the price in June 2019 and June 2016.

Chart 5 | The chart shows the quantity of tomatoes (in tonnes) brought to mandis across States in the last four weeks of June 2023. Data from Tamil Nadu was not available. 

The quantity brought to mandis in Uttar Pradesh crashed from 12,500 tonnes in the second week to just over 5,300 tonnes in the last week — a 58% drop. This was the steepest drop among States. Maharashtra recorded a 52% drop while Andhra Pradesh saw a 31% decline.

Map 6 | The map shows the average retail price of a kg of tomato in rupees on June 30. 

In 51 of the 473 cities analysed, the prices touched or crossed the ₹100 per kg mark. Thirteen of these were in Uttar Pradesh. Ahmednagar in Maharashtra recorded the highest average retail price (₹123 per kg) among the cities considered. Bellary in Karnataka, Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, and Dhar in Madhya Pradesh are the other cities where the retail price crossed the ₹110 mark.

Source: agmarknet, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the National Horticulture Board

vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in and rebecca.varghese@thehindu.co.in

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