After hitting a record high of ₹200 a kg on Monday, the prices of tomato fell to about ₹160 to ₹170 a kg on Tuesday because of marginal improvement in arrivals at the Koyambedu wholesale market.
The wholesale merchants said an additional 30 tonnes of tomatoes were procured from Karnataka on Tuesday. However, the retail price hovered around ₹180 to ₹190 a kg, depending on the quality of tomatoes.
Instead of the normal daily load of 800 tonnes, the wholesale market, which largely depends on supplies from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, received only 250-300 tonnes of tomatoes on Tuesday. The prices of a few other vegetables such as beans (₹90 a kg) and ginger (₹180-₹200 a kg) had shot up because of reduced supplies, said S. Chandran, a wholesale vegetable merchant. Wholesale traders said it would take about a month for the prices to stabilise.
P. Sukumar of Koyambedu Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers Merchants’ Association, said: “Customers have turned frugal while buying tomatoes. Many traders have stopped sourcing from other States such as Maharashtra as it means additional transportation cost and loss. We can make profit only if the produce is priced normally. Some merchants have increased security to safeguard their limited stock of tomatoes.“
Meanwhile, the State government has expanded the sale of tomatoes to 500 fair price shops across the State from Tuesday. One kg of tomatoes is sold for ₹60 at these shops.
