With the movement of tomatoes to the wholesale market improving, the price of the vegetable dropped and was sold for ₹55 a kg here on Thursday.
Rains in the production areas of Talavadi, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh affected the crops recently, leading to a drop in supply to the Nethaji Daily Vegetable and Fruit Market at V.O.C. Park Ground. On May 21, the wholesale price of tomatoes was ₹100 a kg while the retail price was ₹110 a kg.
Improved production
“Since there was no rain in the last two weeks, production increased leading to an increase in arrival to the markets”, said Ibrahim, a wholesaler.
Traders said that about 2,000 boxes, each weighing 15 kg of tomatoes, arrived at the wholesale market on Thursday. Only 1,100 boxes had arrived through the whole of last week.
Fine quality tomatoes are sold between ₹50 and ₹60 a kg, while the retail price continues to be over ₹80 a kg as retailers have stocked tomatoes in the last one week.
At the Uzhavar Sandhai at Sampath Nagar, the arrival of tomatoes from Talavadi improved in the last four days.
“Tomatoes were sold for ₹88 a kg on May 24 that dropped to ₹72 a kg and ₹64 a kg in the last two days”, said Karuppan, a trader.
Traders said in the absence of rain, the price of tomato is expected to drop further as harvesting will be in full swing in most of the areas. “Rain will decide the price of tomatoes,” said a traider, adding that the price will stabilise between ₹20 and ₹30 a kg in the coming weeks if there is no rain.
