Tomato prices skyrocket

Mumbai: Mumbai vegetable markets are experiencing a steep rise in tomato prices, ostensibly due to depleting stock since the monsoon’s onset. Tomatoes, which were being sold at the rate of Rs 30 a month ago, are being sold at the rate of Rs 100-120 per kg across retail markets.

According to retailers, this is perhaps the first time that tomato prices have crossed the Rs 100 mark; the higher-quality tomatoes cost a bit more at Rs 120 a kg in Mumbai. “Production of tomatoes is usually less in the month of June to September and we have already received enough tomatoes in the APMC market,” said Shivaji Painkar, secretary of the APMC market in Vashi.    

Usually prices of vegetables go up every monsoon, but this time it is worse. “There is a shortage in the tomato stock in the city markets and that is why tomato rates are going up,” said Dharmendra Gupta, a vegetable vendor who has an outlet in Matunga.  

“Due to heavy rains, low-quality tomatoes are coming in the market. I have seen piles of tomatoes being thrown in the dustbin in the Dadar wholesale market,” said Ritesh Gupta, a vegetable vendor.

Stating that crops had been damaged in some areas due to heavy rain, which has affected the supply, Salim Shaikh vegetable vendor, said, “We have been receiving a very low supply of tomatoes from key states that grow them such as Maha-rashtra, Karnataka and other states this year.”