Tomato prices: As supply from Himachal, Uttarakhand commences, prices likely to drop in coming weeks

Tomato prices that saw a massive spike in the recent past will moderate in the next 2, 3 weeks as supply from hilly states that include Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand has commenced, reported Financial Express.

The kitchen staple saw rise in prices since the last week of June and hit Rs 100/Kg on June 30. This was a 400% rise compared to the previous week.

While the average prices across the country is at Rs 100/Kg, in Delhi and Mumbai it is being sold at Rs 140-Rs 150 per Kilogram. Meanhwile tomato traders has told Financial Express that it will take a few weeks for the mandi prices to drop.

“Tomato arrivals have commenced from the hilly states, it would reflect in the softening of prices in next two weeks,” Surendra Budhiraja, a tomato trader and member of Azadpur mandi told Financial Express.

However, heavy rainfall in the hilly regions has disrupted transportation affecting the supplies. Hilly states have around 10% share in the country’s tomato production and help improve supplies in the northern region.

Tomato prices in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka would decline only after new crops start arriving in the market by later parts of this month. Both these states have a combined share of 17%.

“Harvesting in Maharashtra and Karnataka will commence by the end of July and prices are likely to fall by early next month,” Uday Deolankar, adviser to the Maharashtra agriculture department told Financial Express.

Delay in the arrival of monsoon and higher-than-normal temperature that prevailed in April and May in key producing states of Karnataka and Maharashtra pushed up prices sharply. The surge in tomato prices has even impacted global fast food chain McDonald that had announced exclusion of tomatoes in their products.