PNS|Hyderabad
Even though the Centre is thinking of selling tomatoes at discounted rates in the retail markets of some cities, Telangana and Hyderabad will have no respite.
Andhra Pradesh has been selling tomatoes at subsidised prices through Rythu Bazaars. Sources said that the Telangana government is not thinking of subsidising tomatoes. Sources indicated that tomato prices are decreasing and that there is no need for intervention like in other states.
Tomatoes have been consistently sold at Rs 125 per kg in Hyderabad. The wholesale price is around Rs 104 per kg while retail prices have been fluctuating between Rs 120 to Rs 130 per kg.It may be mentioned here that after July 1 when tomato prices rose to over Rs 100 per kg in Andhra Pradesh, the AP government started selling tomatoes at a subsidised price of Rs 50 per kg in Rythu Bazaars.
On Wednesday, the Centre started selling tomatoes at discounted rates in the retail markets of New Delhi and some other cities to provide relief to consumers as the price of tomatoes is ruling high at over Rs 200 per kg in some parts of the country.
Announcing the decision, the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday that tomatoes will be sold by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF).
Tomatoes will be sold at discounted rates in Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region), Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. It will be available in cities like Patna, Varanasi, Kanpur and Kolkata, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.
“Tomatoes will be sold at a considerably lesser price than the prevailing price in that area. It will be at least 30 per cent lower than the prevailing market rate on that given day. The idea is to provide relief to consumers,” he said.
Both NAFED and NCCF will procure tomatoes from the key producing centres of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and sell it in major consumption centres where retail prices have recorded the maximum increase in the last month, the ministry said in a statement.
“For the first time, we are going to procure and sell tomatoes in retail markets. We have done that for onion. It is going to be a challenging task as tomato is a perishable commodity,” Rohit said.
In Delhi-NCR, the NCCF will sell tomatoes through its own outlets, mobile vans, Mother Dairy’s Safal and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.
In other cities, both NAFED and NCCF will sell tomatoes at discounted rates through their own outlets or will have local tie-ups for the same, Rohit said.
The sales of tomatoes at discounted rates will continue till prices cool down which is likely in the beginning of August.
The ministry said that centres for selling tomatoes have been identified on the basis of the absolute increase in retail prices in the last month where prevailing prices are above the all-India average.
Key consumption centres in states having a higher concentration of identified centres will be selected for intervention, it said.
As per the ministry’s data, the average all-India retail price of tomatoes was Rs 111.71 per kg on Wednesday.
The maximum retail price was Rs 203 per kg in Bathinda of Punjab while the minimum was Rs 34 per kg in Karnataka’s Bidar.
Among metros, the retail price of tomato was the highest in New Delhi at Rs 150 per kg, followed by Mumbai at Rs 137 per kg, Kolkata at Rs 137 per kg and Chennai at Rs 123 per kg on Wednesday.
Other cities where prices are ruling high are Bengaluru (Rs 95-118/kg), Gurugram and Patna (Rs 140/kg), Jammu (Rs 147/kg), Kanpur (Rs 120/kg), and Varanasi (Rs 120/kg).
Tomato prices normally come under pressure during July-August and October-November which are generally the lean production months. The supply disruption caused by the monsoon led to a further spike in prices.
“The monsoon month of July adds to challenges in distribution and transit losses leading to price rise,” the ministry said.
Currently, the supplies coming to markets in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and some other states are mostly from Maharashtra, especially Satara, Narayangaon and Nashik, which is expected to last till month-end, it said.
Madanapalle (Chittoor) in Andhra Pradesh also has arrivals in reasonable quantities. The arrivals in Delhi-NCR are mainly from Himachal Pradesh and some quantity comes from Kolar in Karnataka, it added.
The ministry said the new crop arrivals are expected soon from Nashik district.
In August, additional supply is expected to come from the Narayangaon and Sambajinagar (Aurangabad) belt. Arrivals from Madhya Pradesh are also expected. “Prices are anticipated to cool down soon,” the ministry said.
