Bleeding red: Tomato prices in Gurugram see 140% rise in two weeks

GURUGRAM: Untimely rains and a shortage of supply have led to an almost 140% rise in the price of tomato in the city, where a kilo of the vegetable sold for Rs 70-90 on Thursday.
Traders said fewer trucks were coming to the Khandsa mandi of late, leading to this sudden surge in vegetable prices. At the wholesale market in Khandsa, tomatoes sold for Rs 1,200 for a sack of 24kg. Just two weeks ago, a 24kg sack of tomatoes cost Rs 500.

Even the inferior quality tomatoes, which are mostly bought by budget hotels and roadside eateries, have been selling for Rs 35-40 a kg. The rise in price is phenomenal when compared to last year — a 400% rise. During this time of the year in 2021, tomatoes sold for only Rs 5-10 a kg.
Traders said tomato prices had hit the century mark in southern states like Maharashtra and Karnataka and warned that NCR could go that way soon. “The current situation has become critical because of the sudden rains and the supply shortage. Prices in other states, where rains have been consistent over the past few days, have already crossed the Rs 100-mark,” said Neeraj Yadav, the Khandsa Mandi Association secretary.
Apart from the vagaries of the weather, a crash in prices last year also prompted farmers to downsize their production.
“Last year, I sold tomatoes for Rs 3 a kg despite investing Rs 7-10. The same tomato was sold in the retail market for Rs 20-30 a kg. So, this year, we decided to go for other crops. I don’t see farmers sowing the next batch of crops anytime soon,” said Mohammed Irshad, a vegetable grower from Nuh.
But tomatoes are not the only ones punching a hole in the pocket. At Rs 250 a kilo, lemons had already hit the headlines two weeks ago. Other vegetables like brinjals, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, and capsicum have also witnessed a price rise of 30% to 50%.
“The service lanes on both sides of the Delhi-Jaipur highway got flooded in the rains this week. Since tomatoes are perishable items, by the time the trucks arrived, most of them got spoiled. All these created the supply gap,” said Inder Singh, a trader at the Khandsa Mandi.
The horticulture department, so far, has no plans to stabilise the rising prices of tomatoes. “The shortage is not at the level of a crisis so far. We expect the situation to stabilise in the coming few days,” said a senior official at the directorate of horticulture.