Tomato prices soar, touch Rs 100/kg in Chennai

The price, which was Rs 90 per kilogram on Saturday, reached Rs 100 on Sunday.

After the incessant rains that caused havoc in Tamil Nadu, the prices of vegetables had shot up and the tomato prices had crossed above Rs 100 per kg. However, after the arrival of huge consignment from North India, the price had come down in the range of Rs 40 to Rs 60 per kilogram at the Koyambedu market.

With rains lashing the entire South Indian states, there are major crop losses in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu where tomato is largely grown. This has led to the current spurt in prices.

M. Thiagarajan, President of Koyambedu Fruits and Vegetable merchants association, told IANS, "Market has shown sudden rise in the prices of tomato and this will have a spiral effect as retail markets will now sell at more than Rs 120 per kilogram. This will make the people reduce their quantity of purchase and in turn the commodity will be rotten and not useful for sale. Again traders will have huge losses."

Brinjal and ladies finger have also touched high prices with both being sold at Rs 120 per kilogram at the Koyambedu wholesale market.

 Sumangala Swaminathan, a homemaker at Pammal in Chennai while speaking to IANS, said, "The price rise of vegetables is alarming and we will have to skip using tomato and ladies finger from our menu. After Covid , we had run into bad times and the incessant rains and spurt in vegetable prices are taking a toll on our budget. Hope that the Stalin Government does something to control this spiralling coat of vegetables."

With the price of vegetables, especially tomato, ladies finger and brinjal creating imbalance in family budgets, the vegetable traders expect the state government to enter the market and to provide a good consignment of vegetables from the North Indian markets.

Adbul Khader, a vegetable merchant at Koyambedu wholesale market while speaking to IANS said, "It is alarming and the government must intervene to check the prices and the only solution is huge quantities of stocks from North Indian or Maharashtra markets to control this. Otherwise the traders will have to shut shop and search for other jobs."

A senior officer with the Tamil Nadu agricultural department while speaking to IANS said, "We have already intervened in the market earlier and brought a good stock from the North Indian market and a policy decision has to be taken about the present price rise."