Yesterday, the price of the first-grade tomatoes in the markets of Madanapalle in Annamayya district, Asia’s largest tomato-growing belt, slipped to ₹16 a kg. This was quite a drop from the ₹96 one kg fetched in May.
Coming to the second grade, the price tag stood at ₹11.6 a kg as against last month’s ₹75 a kg. The arrival of stocks was recorded at 1,656 tons on Wednesday, 29th of June, compared to 80 tons in the first week of May.
The latest development in the tomato trade all over the district, and some parts of the Chittoor district, has unnerved hundreds of farmers who had been expecting high profits.
Chandigarh tomato prices saw a 33% rise in the past two weeks
Between April and now, there was an increase of 167% in tomato rates in Punjab and Haryana due to the heatwave that affected production. Tomatoes have seen an almost 33% rise in price, going up from ₹60/kg in the second week of June to ₹80/kg now.
Harpreet Singh, a supervisor of Punjab Mandi Board in Chandigarh, said, “Tomatoes are usually the worst hit by extreme temperature changes. Due to the heatwave, their supply dropped, even though they were grown locally this year.”
[ ₹100 = €1.20 ]
Source: thehindu.com