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₹80/kg: Govt further reduces tomato rates
The Indian government has reduced the price of subsidized tomatoes from ?90/kg to ?80/kg in major cities to address rising food inflation. The price reduction is being implemented through two state-backed firms, NAFED and NCCF, and will be rolled out to more cities depending on market prices. The tomato crisis is due to extreme weather conditions and climate change-induced shortages. Analysts predict high grocery inflation until September due to last year's lower crop output and recent heavy rains.
The Centre on Sunday reduced the price of subsidized tomatoes from ₹90 a kilo to ₹80 in major cities, where it is selling the vegetable through two state-backed firms following more procurement from farm hubs amid a price spiral that has hammered household budgets.
“After a re-evaluation of the situation at over 500 outlets across the country, it was decided to sell it at ₹80 per kg from today. Wholesale prices have begun easing,” consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.
On Sunday, sales started at more outlets in the national capital region, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and food trucks began selling operations at Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah in Bihar through NAFED and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF), two state-backed food trading firms.
“Sales will be rolled out to more cities from tomorrow depending on the prevailing market prices in those locations,” Singh said.
The selling price for the public has been fixed at all centres at ₹80 a kg, while the buying rate ranged between ₹120-130 per kg, according to NCCF managing director Anice Joseph Chandra. The difference will be paid by the Union government.
Consumers will feel the pain of high grocery inflation at least until September, analysts have said, as the knock-on effects of last year’s lower output of key staples and torrential rains this month hurt household budgets.
Food inflation measured by the consumer food price index leapt to 4.49% in June compared to 2.96% in May, official data showed on Wednesday.
Overall retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 4.81% as a result.
The roots of the tomato crisis go back to last year’s extreme weather in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, followed by damage to crops this year as well.
Hailstorm in March, April and May destroyed large swathes of the tomato crop in Maharashtra, a major supplier during the monsoon months, said Sunil Chavan, the state’s agriculture commissioner.
Extreme weather induced by climate change has contributed to the pressing shortage, experts said.
In 2022, abrupt rainfall followed by extreme heat led to an explosion in the numbers of plant viruses transmitted by aphids that feed on tomato plants in both Maharashtra and Karnataka, said M Krishna Reddy, a former scientist at the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bangalore.
Such swings in weather in India are characteristic of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly warned.
