Following drop in the arrival of tomato to the Nethaji Daily Vegetable and Fruit Market, the wholesale price of tomato has increased to ₹ 30 a kg while the vegetable is sold between ₹ 35 a kg to ₹ 45 a kg in retail.
On an average 5,000 boxes, each weighing 15 kg, arrive from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Talavadi to the wholesale market in the city. Due to an increase in production, the wholesale price of tomatoes was more than ₹ 15 a kg in the past two months. After the start of the rainy season in the past three weeks, the arrival of tomatoes to the market dropped significantly leading to sharp increase in the price.
Traders said that continuous rain had damaged the crops in the past one week leading to drop in arrival to the market. “The wholesale price was around ₹ 10 a kg last month. But now we sell it for ₹ 25 to ₹ 30 a kg”, they added. Traders said that it is normal that the price of tomato and other vegetables will shoot up in October and November as rain affect the crops. Many traders said that the quality of tomato is also poor due to rain and they expect the same in the coming weeks.
In retail, fine quality tomatoes are sold above ₹ 35 a kg while second quality tomatoes are sold at ₹ 25 a kg.
