Tomato Price Today: Tomato prices down to Rs 100/kg, heading to Rs 30 soon

Maharashtra and Karnataka are the only states that produce tomatoes between June and August, an off-season

Tomato Price Today: Tomato consumers in the country are set to get some relief as a steep fall in current prices is expected by early September, once arrivals from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana begin.

“As supply pressure builds up by the end of this month, we expect prices to come down drastically and touch Rs 30 per kg by mid-September,” says Sanjay Gupta, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Commodities Management Services Ltd (NCML).

As per the data maintained by the consumer affairs ministry, the all-India average price of tomatoes has declined to Rs 9,195 per quintal on August 14 from Rs 9,671 per quintal on July 14.

Retail prices of this common vegetable had moved above Rs 250 per kg in mid-July in several parts of the country. The prices are currently ruling at Rs 80-120 per kg in most cities, with fresh crops arriving from Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Also read: Tomato to get even costlier in weeks ahead; relief only by September

Tomatoes from Maharashtra and Karnataka started coming to the markets from the second week of August, according to Priyanka Chaturvedi, secretary of Jhunnu Agricultural Produce Market Committee in Narayangarh, Maharashtra.

Tomatoes are coming from Nashik and Kolar, the biggest tomato-growing regions. Farmers are even stopping the consumption of the vegetable and are sending huge consignments to urban areas. This is helping temper the prices, she added.

Maharashtra and Karnataka are the only states that produce tomatoes between June and August, an off-season.

While their crops were affected by untimely rains in early June, extensive dry periods followed later. July rains made up for the lost moisture.

The CPI inflation rate for tomatoes stood at 200 percent in July.

‘Arrivals from two states not enough’

“Produces from only these two states are, however, not enough to fulfil the country’s needs. Prices are expected to come down further, once arrivals from other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh begin by the end of this month,” added Gupta.

In fact, Gupta expects tomato prices to see a drastic fall by October due to the overgrowth of the crop as prices soared to unprecedented levels.

“I expect prices to crash down to Rs 5-10 per kg in wholesale markets by mid-October. This is just a loop that keeps repeating itself with horticulture crops,” he said.

The government has been taking several steps to bring down soaring prices. National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and farmers’ cooperative Nafed have been selling tomatoes at the retail price of Rs 70/kg- Rs 90/kg since the middle of July at several places in Delhi NCR, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, among others.

As supplies increased, both NCCF and Nafed dropped these prices further to Rs 50 per kg on August 14.

The retail sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR had started from July 14. Till August 13, a total of 15 lakh kg of tomatoes had been procured by the two agencies which are being continuously disposed of to retail consumers in major consumption centres in the country, a statement by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said.

Also read: July retail inflation at 15-month high of 7.44%

This humble kitchen staple led to a steep rise in India's headline retail inflation, which pushed past the upper band of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 2-6 percent tolerance range in July and shot up to a 15-month high of 7.44 percent, spurred on by a massive increase in vegetable prices, particularly tomatoes, which have a weightage of 0.6 percent in CPI inflation.

The CPI inflation rate for tomatoes stood at 200 percent in July.