For the second day in a row, the price of tomatoes in the majority of neighborhood grocery stores in the city remained fixed at ₹200 per kg, while the price range in supermarkets was between 210 and 215 per kg.
The state administration declared in the late afternoon that on Tuesday, 500 PDS stores throughout the state will offer the essential vegetable for 60 cents per kilogram.
According to K R Periyakaruppan, minister for cooperatives, at least ten PDS stores in each district will start selling tomatoes at a discount on Tuesday. He said that the price increase was not induced purposefully but rather resulted from a severe shortage.
He further added “we anticipated that the price would decrease within a week or two after it increased in June. But it has been going on for more than a month. This raises alarm. The demand is still high despite the low level of production. No reports of hoarding exist as of now”.
According to vendors, the cost of buying a carton of 15kg tomatoes in Karnataka has climbed from about Rs 1,600 to almost Rs 1,900.
Tomato prices might potentially increase further and hit ₹250 per kilogram in the upcoming week, according to dealers’ forecasts.
P. Sukumaran, secretary of the Koyambedu Wholesale Merchants Association said “this is the first time since the opening of this market that the price of tomatoes has reached ₹200 per kg. The situation is really very unique”.
S Arul, who owns a wholesale store at the market in Koyambedu, stated, “We are hoping the price of tomatoes will come down by the middle of August or September when it will be time for the next harvest.”
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