Tomato prices which had crashed to Rs 1-2 per kg in May are now selling at Rs 40-50 a kg, while cauliflower, French beans, green peas and capsicum have risen 25%-30% in the past month in the Delhi and Mumbai’s wholesale markets as heavy rain has hit output, traders said.

“There is a drop in supply of tomato from Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka to the Delhi mandi. Farmers have planted less area under the crop as prices had crashed in May and they were unable to get even the input cost. Further, heavy rains have destroyed the crops in some parts of the country,” Ashok Kaushik, past president, Tomato Association of Azadpur mandi.

Supplies of tomato from Maharashtra and Karnataka to Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have also been disrupted, after heavy rains in June after cyclone Nisarga destroyed the crop, said Vegetable Growers Association of India president Sriram Gadhave. “Farmers have replanted the seeds and we can expect prices to remain firm for the next one month,” he said.   ..

Gadhave said that prices of vegetables like capsicum, cucumber and bitter gourd have increased by 25% to 30% in the past one month. In the wholesale market of Mumbai, capsicum is being sold at Rs 55 a kg, cucumber at Rs 50 a kg, bitter gourd at Rs 45 a kg and bottle gourd at Rs 30 a kg, he said.

The fuel price hike has also contributed to the increase of the tomato and vegetable cost, said Mahinder Sanpal, a vegetable trader at Delhi’s Azadpur mandi. He said transporters were increasing the rates which was being reflected in veggie prices too. “The volatility in vegetable prices continue, especially for vegetables coming from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Prices have increased for capsicum, cabbage and french beans by 30% in the past one month and being quoted RS 40-50 a kg. Green peas was being quoted at R 70-80 a kg in the mandi on Saturday,” he said.

Source: The Economic Times – 12^th July 2020

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