Kolkata: Kitchen budget goes haywire as tomato hits century – Times of India

Kolkata News

KOLKATA: When prices of vegetables in city markets have started dipping, tomatoes are pinching the pockets. Across the retail markets, the tomatoes are selling at Rs 80-Rs 100 a kg. Tomato is no more a typical winter vegetable, it has become a staple in Kolkata households.
“With standing crops damaged by excess rains in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are key suppliers of tomato during October-December, supply is down,” said Kamal De, president, West Bengal Vendors’ Association. The city may need to wait one more month for prices to fall with Bengal varieties awaiting to be harvested.
Ground surveys indicated a grim situation in Karnataka that tomatoes are being sent from Maharashtra’s Nashik. Resultantly, prices of tomatoes increased and are expected to remain high for the next 45-50 days till the harvest from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan reach markets across the country beginning January.
In Bengal, the first batch of tomatoes will come from Purulia, to be followed by South 24 Parganas in mid-January. Once the tomatoes from South 24 Parganas hit the market, prices will fall drastically, sometimes below Rs 10 a kg, said De. Significantly, tomatoes account for 10% of the total vegetable production in India.
The cost of transportation remained very high. Last year, the transportation cost of tomatoes from Bengaluru to Kolkata used to be Rs 92,0000 per truck, this year the price has jumped to about Rs 1.7 lakh, which prevented tomato price from crashing the way it should have been.
Tomato prices are burning big hole in the pockets of consumers. “As tomatoes have become a staple and are used in almost every dish we cook in our households, we compulsively buy tomatoes, paying through our nose,” said Arindam Chandra, a government official.
Prices of onion are expected to decline in the next 10-15 days when newly harvested produce reaches markets in north India. “Transplanting was delayed in the key growing regions of Maharashtra because of deficit rains in August. That delayed arrivals in October, leading to a 65% rise in onion prices compared to September,” said Gour Saha, an onion wholesaler.
On the contrary, potato prices may rise in next couple of months as heavy rains may affect sowing and subsequently the yield.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kitchen-budget-goes-haywire-as-tomato-hits-a-century/articleshow/87990911.cms