Chandigarh: In a little respite, tomato prices slide to ₹130 per kg
With inclement weather conditions disrupting production and supply of vegetables over the past few weeks, tomato rates had shot up to an all-time high of ₹250 per kg on July 11
After rising steadily for the past three weeks, tomato prices finally saw a drop on Wednesday after improvement in supply, coming down to ₹130 per kg at the city’s apni mandis.
With inclement weather conditions disrupting production and supply of vegetables over the past few weeks, tomato rates had shot up to an all-time high of ₹250 per kg on July 11.
Speaking about this, Harpreet Singh, a supervisor of Punjab Mandi Board in Chandigarh, said, “The production of locally grown tomatoes gets adversely affected due to increase in temperature and untimely rains. Generally, our local production continues till July end, but due to heavy rains in the region, it was stopped around June end. When this happens, we import tomatoes from hilly areas, but due to landslides that blocked roads, even that supply got erratic, leading to a steep spike in rates over the past month.”
“Now, the region is getting tomato supply from Maharashtra and Solan that has helped bring the prices down. On Wednesday, one crate of tomatoes was being sold for ₹1,500 to ₹3,000. As supply strengthens, we expect the prices to slide further in the coming days,” he added.
Last year, the highest that the price of tomatoes had gone at the apni mandis was around ₹60 per kg. In November 2021, it had climbed to ₹90 per kg, the highest in recent times, but still had not touched the three-digit mark.
Tomatoes now cheaper than capsicum
While the supply of tomatoes is improving, the market is now witnessing a shortage of capsicum.
On July 5, capsicum was being sold at ₹60 per kg, but its price jumped to ₹100 per kg on July 11. Over a week later, on Wednesday, the figure climbed to ₹180 per kg.
Normally more expensive than green capsicum, the red and yellow bell peppers were priced at ₹120 per kg on Wednesday.
