Veggie prices to soar as festive season begins

Coimbatore: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s (TNAU) Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell (Demic) has forecast that the farmgate prices of tomato, brinjal and ladies’ finger would see an increase of Rs 2 to Rs 3 per kilogram in the coming months.
“The price of good quality tomato during November-December will be Rs 17-Rs 20 per kg, while that of good quality of brinjal and bhendi would be Rs 23-Rs 25 and Rs 21-Rs 23, respectively,” Demic said in a press release.
When contacted, a Demic official said the forecast prices were higher than the prevailing market prices. “This is because of the upcoming festive season of Diwali, Christmas, and New Year. The prices would also be subject to northeast monsoon. If monsoon is severe, it would affect arrival of vegetables and prices would increase.”
The release quoted trade sources and said fresh tomato was arriving to the district from Natchipalayam, Kinathukadavu, Madhampatti, Chettipalayam and Aalandurai.
“Arrivals from Tumkur in Karnataka have commenced this month and will continue till December. Tomato price has dropped now mainly because of the continuous arrivals from Karnataka,” it said.
The release said the markets in the district were seeing huge arrivals of brinjal from Mysuru. Ladies’ finger is arriving from Aalandurai, Salem, Oddanchathiram and Udumalpet.