Arrivals in the mandi have decreased for the past two weeks causing price rise, said Manoj Kumar, a vegetable trader at Azadpur Mandi.
It comes in the wake of heavy rains in key producing states such as Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Prices of essentials such as onions and tomatoes have shot up to Rs 70 per kg in most retail markets in the metros, while green vegetables such as capsicum, spinach and gourd are hovering around Rs 100 per kg in the retail market, said traders at Azadpur Mandi.
The modal price – a type of average price calculated by the government – of onions was Rs 53.46 per kg on September 25, 16.55% higher than Rs 46 a month ago, while that of tomatoes increased 9% during this period to Rs 50 per kg from Rs 46 per kg, according to government data.
Vegetable prices usually increase during the monsoon season as rainfall affects harvesting, including plucking and packaging. Additionally, transport disruptions lead to increased vegetable wastage, further impacting prices. This year, severe heat wave also damaged crops in the main producing areas.As tomato prices have started rising in the retail and wholesale markets, the government may intervene by selling the vegetable through mobile vans, as it did last month.”We are keeping track of prices and will intervene if required,” Nidhi Khare, secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, said earlier this week.
She said prices should stabilise soon since there were no supply side issues in the case of tomatoes and onions.
However, traders and farmers said that sowing for kharif tomato is lagging behind in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh compared to the previous year. The intensity of pests and diseases in tomatoes have also been reported to be above the economic threshold level in Maharashtra, causing a dip in supply.
For onions, Khare had said the government would carry out disposal at cheaper prices across the country starting this week. If prices in major production centres such as Nashik increase, it would offload onions there as well from its own stock, she said.
The consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry started offloading onions from its own buffer of 470,000 tonnes from September 5 when prices started climbing. However, as restrictions on exports were lifted, the prices again started rising.