Tomato Prices Likely to Decline

By Shruti Barar

Tomato prices which have skyrocketed up to Rs 100/kg are more likely to decline over the next fortnight. The prices of tomato are up for more than a month that too in most parts of the country. In Kolkata it touched Rs 95/kg , Rs 92/kg in Delhi ,Rs 90/kg in Bhopal, Rs 60/kg in Jaipur as per the data. Deputy Director General of ICAR, Mr. A.K. Singh commented that the prices are expected to come down in the next 15 days as supplies from Southern states and other growing areas are likely to improve. 

Due to the rains coming to an end, the supplies from Southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and even Maharashtra will improve and thus would ease pressure on prices. The heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan caused some damage to the crop and also the transportation difficulty due to the same posed hindrance in the delivery of already harvested crop.Cost of transporting has gone up as trucks are taking more than the normal time due to rains and floods.

While the government has pegged the country's total tomato output to be higher by 15 percent to 187 lakh tonnes in the 2016-17 crop year, but the figures will be revised after the current damage.