Rains push up tomato price to Rs 130, beans Rs 100/kg in Chennai

CHENNAI: In a fallout of over a week's rains, the retail price of tomato has gone up to Rs 130 a kg here and that of beans around Rs 100 per kg as supplies from neighbouring States have drastically dwindled.

"The tomato wholesale price is Rs 100 for the Navin variety and Rs 90 for the Nattu Thakkali and naturally the prices in retail markets would be substantially higher," Koyambedu Vegetable Traders Association President S Chandran told PTI.

He said supplies from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka markets to Koyambedu had sharply come down owing to the incessant rains witnessed over the past week.

Koyambedu is the biggest vegetable, fruit and flower market in Tamil Nadu.

"Usually we used to get over 55 truck loads of tomato from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and it has come down to about 25 now, triggering a sharp rise in prices," he said.

Also, the supplies from farmers in Tiruvallur District has slowed down.

Similarly, the wholesale price of beans has shot up to Rs 80-100 per kg depending on the variety.

"We are getting just one or two trucks of beans as against the usual supply of about a dozen trucks for the current season", he said.

On the whole, the prices of vegetables are ruling high due to the rains and its impact. The retail price of tomato, just on the onset of rains was about Rs 60 a kg last week and it has seen over 200 per cent increase.

Also, the retail price of beans was around Rs 60 a kg and now it has seen a rise of over 80 per cent.

A vegetable retailer in South Chennai said she could not sell tomato below Rs 130 and beans below Rs 100 per kg as the wholesale price continued to rule high and supplies are scarce.