Tomato price jump multi-fold due to crop damages

Tomato prices are expected to remain firm for a month till the new crop hits mandis

Tomato prices have risen eight-fold in the last three months and could require government intervention like those that brought the prices of onions and pulses under control.

In November, tomato prices have firmed up 30 per cent on reports of crop damage in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Traders estimate 15-20 per cent crop damage across the country.

Data compiled by the National Horticulture Board showed tomato prices in Bengaluru, jumped 700 per cent since September to Rs 4,000 a quintal. In Chennai, prices jumped 415 per cent, in Mumbai, they were up 335 per cent.

“Deficient monsoon rain hit acreage under kharif tomato. Unseasonal showers thereafter damaged sown crops. The crop also faced pinworm attack, lowering the yield in south India, especially Tamil Nadu. Supply has declined dramatically in three months,” said Anil Malhotra, general secretary, Tomato Traders’ Association, Azadpur Mandi, Delhi.

Arrivals in the Vashi Agricultural Produce Markets Committee (in Mumbai) were 32.9 tonnes on November 19, down from 51.1 tonnes on November 2. Prices here jumped 30 per cent to Rs 3,400-3,600 a quintal from Rs 2,800-3,000 three weeks ago.

“Supply was disrupted because of the small crop size in the major growing regions of Maharashtra, including Nashik, Satara and Baramati. Supply started declining three months ago when unseasonal rain damaged the standing crop in most states. Now, arrivals from the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are affected because of unseasonal rain. Consumers will face high prices for the next couple of weeks,” said a functionary of the Vashi Agricultural Produce Markets Committee.

“Processed food companies normally build their inventory for the year during the January-February harvest. But they also buy intermittently. Such buyers are now absent from trade,” said Zaheer Shaikh, a Nashik-based tomato trader.

Trade sources said large traders had started booking tomato in Nashik at Rs 34-36 a kg, indicating prices would continue to move up for the next couple of weeks. The said fresh supplies from Jaipur had started arriving, but these were low. Also tomato exports to Pakistan have declined to 10-15 trucks (9 tonnes each) from 70-80 trucks a few weeks ago due to harvesting of the local crop there.

The prices of other vegetables were relatively calm but might move up in December-January when seasonal and occasional demand set in together, traders said.

With estimates of a sharp decline in vegetable output due to unseasonal rain, their supply may dip in January. Unseasonal October rain damaged the crop in Madhya Pradesh in Maharashtra, resulting in a delay in replanting. Farmers that had sown veggies in irrigated land saw an unknown disease hitting their yield which may create a scarcity when the occasional demand starts, warned a senior Vashi APMC official.