Tomato prices likely to ease as supplies pick up

GUWAHATI: Though onions , tomatoes and potatoes have given sleepless nights to the poll-bound state governments and the common man, tomatoes are set to give some respite . Availability of the juicy vegetable has streamlined across the country and retail prices are expected to reduce within a week. Tomatoes had become as elusive as onions and belonged to the Rs 80-club as supplies from Maharashtra , Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat were disturbed due to untimely rainfall and non-availability of farm labourers and truck drivers due to the festival season .

Nashik was the main supplier of tomatoes to most parts of the country for the last two months , where the October rains damaged the crop . The daily arrival of tomatoes at Pimpalgaon has reduced from about 2.5 lakh crates in October to less than one lakh crates now . Subhash Holkar , proprietor , Amar Vegetable Company at Pimpalgaon market , said , “The heavy rainfall towards the end of monsoon season has damaged the tomato as well as onion crop . The number of tomato trucks going to Delhi has also come down by half .”

The highest rate of tomato at Pimpalgaon APMC, one of the largest market for tomatoes in Asia , was Rs 40/kg on Friday . For the first time ever , tomato prices at Pimpalgaon remained above Rs 25/kg for the longest period of two months . Along with Nashik in Maharashtra , the October and November rainfall has adversely affectedthetomatocrop in Ratlam in MP andA nand in Gujarat . From lastweek ,however ,tomato arrivals have increased at Bangalore , which has started feeding the Northeast andKolkata markets .

Bangalore based tomato trader BK Sahu said thatlarge quantities arebeing sentto Kolkata every dayfrom lastweek . Subhash Chug , a leading tomato trader from the Azadpur Mandi in New Delhi , said that the wholesale tomato prices have already halved from . Rs 25-30 /kg to Rs 15-20 /kg on Saturday . “Now, day by day , there will be reduction in the tomato prices ,” said Chug .

Tomatoes from Haryana will feed Delhi in about 15 to 20 days bringing the prices further down . Rahamatula Ansari , a wholesale trader in Guwahati , said , “Tomatoes produced in Shillong are supplied acrossNortheastI ndia and adjoining North Bengal . Flood has delayed the arrival of the crop from the Assam’s tomato-growing area like Barpeta . It will take another 20 days for the local crop to arrive in the market .”