Consumer cooperative NCCF on Monday started selling tomatoes at ₹65/kg in 50 locations of Delhi under a direction from the Centre after retail prices exceeded ₹100/kg, leading to several negative comments on the social media.
However, traders said that the spike is mainly due to lower arrival of the crop at a time when its demand in the north is higher due to Navaratra festival.
“We are trying to moderate the prices of tomatoes. With this market intervention, in the next 3-4 days prices of tomatoes will come down,” Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare told reporters after flagging off some mobile vans carrying the tomatoes.
The intervention will protect consumers from the recent increase in tomato prices and to prevent windfall gains for intermediaries, according to an official statement. Tomatoes are being sold at an average rate of ₹90 per kg in the national capital. “The possible role of market intermediaries in the current price rise in this high-demand festive season may not be ruled out,” the statement said.
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Official sources that that the government is concerned about the recent spurt in the retail prices of tomatoes terming it as “unwarranted” in this festival time, particularly when there is continuous arrival in good quantities in mandis.
However, the official statement admitted that prolonged monsoon rains and high humidity in major producing states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra in recent weeks have raised quality concerns of the fresh tomatoes.
The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) has initiated the market intervention by directly procuring tomatoes from mandis and selling them at Rs 65 per kilogram at 50 locations of Delhi.
According to official data, the all India average retail price of tomato was ₹64.72/kg -- maximum ₹120/kg and minimum ₹20/kg, while modal price was ₹80/kg on Monday. The data showed that prices were ₹90-100/kg in Delhi and Punjab whereas Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh reported prices hovered in the range of ₹46-57/kg.
In the year-ago period, the average tomato price was ₹28.62/kg -- maximum ₹70/kg, minimum ₹9/kg and modal ₹20/kg.
According to Agmarknet portal, the total arrival of tomatoes in mandis during the first week of October was 73,620 tonnes, as against 1,25,978 tonnes in the year-ago period, which is mainly due to 50-52 per cent drop in supplies from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.