On a sunny morning in a market in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, Ramdas stands next to his bicycle, arranging tomatoes in a triangular heap within a basket on the back. On usual days, he would get rid of this stash by the evening. But now, he has to cycle around, looking for customers, as demand has dipped. “This is what price rise has done,” says the 45-year-old.

Ramdas is among the many vendors and consumers in the national capital who have been hit by a spike in tomato prices, which is retailing at Rs 100 per kg, in a sharp increase from Rs 55 per kg last month, and is being traded wholesale in the Azadpur and Okhla markets for anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 70 per kg. Distributors attribute the costs to a supply crunch caused by rains and transport problems.

For many like Rubi, who works as a domestic staffer in Greater Kailash, this means a compromise on meals. “I make more rice and dal without tomatoes these days. I will buy the usual quantity only when the price comes down. I used to buy 2 kg for my family of five, but now I buy one kilogram only.”

Food inflation

Tomato production usually dips during July-August and October-November, leading to a slight change in the market. In July and August last year, tomatoes retailed at over Rs 150 per kg in many parts of north India.

Delhi gets its major supply from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. Because of heavy rains, the supply has decreased, forcing traders and vendors to get the berry from Karnataka, increasing the transportation costs.

However, the price rise this time seems to be across the board, with wholesale food prices surging to a 16-month high.

Onion is being sold at Rs 60 per kg instead of Rs 20, potatoes at Rs 50 per kg instead of Rs 20, cucumber at Rs 80 per kg instead of Rs 40, and garlic at Rs 160 per kg, up from Rs 100. 

“Positive rate of inflation in June, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, other manufacturing etc,” the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement on Monday.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s Delhi unit has reportedly urged the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital to address the issue, saying it has become a burden for the economically weaker sections and the lower middle class.

In a letter to the food and civil supplies minister of Delhi, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor suggested that special vans should be sent to each municipal ward to ensure subsidised vegetables reach the masses. 

A report on the tomato price rise last year by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development indicates that Madhya Pradesh has the highest share in tomato production with 13.40 percent, followed by Karnataka at 12.60 percent  in the financial year 2022-23. It pointed to the “imperfect market structure” and “inefficient value chain for vegetables” along with costs and margins incurred by the intermediaries as causes for the high price for consumers.

Wholesale vendors hit too

Meanwhile, at the Okhla mandi, Mohammad points to dressings on his leg due to a leg surgery, to say that he can’t wait as long as other wholesale vendors to sell the tomatoes stacked up in eight crates, each weighing 25 kg.

Sprinkling water on the crates from a plastic bottle, he says he bought it for Rs 60 per kg and will sell them for Rs 70 per kg. If all the crates are sold, he will make a profit of Rs 2,000 and share half of it with his brother who also owns the business.  “Now, these tomatoes which are left, they will be wasted if I am not able to sell them tomorrow,” he says, pointing to the amount yet to be sold.

In another lane, carpeted with vegetable waste, Ramesh, in his early thirties, claims the costs have risen but “profits have shrunk”. 

A total of 20,000 tonnes of tomatoes are required in Delhi-NCR, says Rashid, a wholesale vendor in Okhla. But the usual supply was reduced to just 4,000 tonnes, he claimed, adding that for many this is the time to make major profit.

But for retail vendors like Rajo Devi and her husband Haridas, it’s the time to cover losses rather than focus on profit. Sitting under an umbrella over her cart in Shivalik Colony, Rajo agrees to sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg if a customer buys at least 2 kg. The couple bought a total of five kilograms for Rs 350.

“I know that the quantity that is left each day at the end will cause me more loss. So I sell them at lower rates sometimes, to avoid bigger losses”.

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