Tomato prices continue to remain sky high at about Rs 45 a kg in retail markets here due to short supply of the crop.
"There is still 60-65 per cent shortage in supply of tomato in Azadpur mandi (Asia's biggest vegetables market) due to which prices remain high," Vegetables Traders Association president Surendra Kohli said.
The wholesale price of tomato, which had fallen marginally to Rs 20 a kg in last two days, again jumped to Rs 30 per kg today due to decline in supply of the crop, Kohli added.
"Today, only one truck load of tomato (carrying 9 tonnes) arrived in Azadpur market from Bangalore in comparison to 5-6 trucks in the past 2-3 days while from Himachal Pradesh merely 7-8 tempo (carrying 4 tonnes) came," he said and attributed this to rain in the southern state and also in major tomato producing Shimla and Solan districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Due to disrupted supply of the produce, the price of tomato, an essential item in all preparations, fluctuated between Rs 45-50 a kg in the retail market here in the past one fortnight. This was mainly due to floods in Punjab and Haryana, from where they arrive at this point of time.
Rain in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bangalore has added to the crisis, according to traders. Surendra Kumar of Tomato Traders Association said the situation will take at least a week to stablise at Rs 10-15 a kg with flow of supply increasing from Maharashtra, Bangalore, Himachal and Haryana.
The country produced over 11 million tonnes of tomato in 2008-09, according to National Horticulture Board data.