The price of tomatoes that ruled high, at Rs. 50 a kg, three months ago has dropped to Rs. 10 a kg in the wholesale market.
Surplus arrivals to the Koyambedu market from neighbouring States has led to plummeting of prices.
Wholesale merchants said, over the past few days, the market has been receiving nearly 75 truck loads of tomatoes every day, as opposed to the normal load of 60 trucks.
“As business hours come to an end in the morning, I am forced to sell them at a lower price to avoid wasting the perishable produce,” said M. Muthu, a wholesale tomato seller.
Traders said the prices of several vegetables this week have dropped by nearly 30 per cent when compared to last week’s rates.
S. Chandran, president of Koyambedu Licensed Merchants Association, said better yields in neighbouring States have brought down the rates of vegetables such as onions and brinjals. Even costly vegetables such as beans and carrots are cheaper now and customers have a large variety to choose from.
Pointing out that nearly 10 per cent of about 4,000 tonnes of vegetables go waste every day, traders said the Koyambedu market lacks adequate cold storage facilities.
“If we have better cold storage, we can reduce wastage and distribute excess produce to other areas. Vegetables like potatoes can be stocked for more than two months,” said Mr. Chandran.
Traders plan to represent the issue to the Market Management Committee and also evict unauthorised vendors.
