Tomato prices in Bengaluru have continued to shoot up, and have now gone over Rs 110 per kg. Prices of many other vegetables have also continued to go up. Several vendors TNM spoke to said the increased cost of vegetables is due to widespread crop damage across Karnataka due to heavy rains that lashed the state in November. Wholesalers said that the cost price on their end, which is usually around Rs 10-12 per kg in December, has gone up to Rs 92-95 per kg.
Speaking to TNM, a wholesale vendor named Mushtaq in Bengaluru said that his cost price itself was around Rs 90 per kg. “Generally during this time of year, there is a lot of produce that comes in and the price of tomato would be Rs 10 to Rs 12 (per kg). Good quality tomato is costing Rs 92 to Rs 95 now. The main reason for this is the rains which destroyed crops,” he said.
Another street vendor who used to sell tomatoes in retail said that the price of good quality tomatoes has become very high. Unable to afford them, she said she has resorted to selling a lower grade of tomatoes instead. Govindamma, a street vendor from Bengaluru’s Vijayanagar said, “Good quality tomatoes cost us Rs 90 to Rs 100 per kg, and we will have to later sell it at around Rs 120 per kg. At such high prices, nobody will buy them. So, now I've bought a lower grade which still costs me around Rs 70 per kg and I'm selling it at Rs 80 per kg. Even then business is difficult. People ask for one kg, but on hearing the price, they end up buying just a quarter kg.”
Even in the government-managed Horticultural Producers' Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society’s (HOPCOMS) shops, the price of tomatoes was Rs 115 on Tuesday, November 7. The high price of tomatoes is not restricted to Karnataka alone. Other south Indian states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have been affected too.
In Kerala, tomatoes were being sold at Rs 125 per kg in Thiruvananthapuram. In Tamil Nadu too, tomatoes cost Rs 83 per kg in Chennai. In Andhra Pradesh, tomatoes were selling for Rs 77 per kg in Vizag, and in Telangana’s Warangal, the price was Rs 85 per kg.