The heavy rains are expected to damage the crops as well as damage the roadways disrupting the supply chain, said Manoj Kumar, a vegetable trader at Azadpur Mandi wholesale market, adding that disruption in supply chain can also push prices higher.
The daily retail price of tomatoes in Delhi is around Rs 70 per kilo, according to data from the department of consumer affairs, while in Mumbai it is around Rs 80 per kilo.
To provide relief from soaring tomato prices, the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) will begin selling the commodity at a subsidised rate of Rs 60 per kg in the Delhi-NCR region from July 29 which brought down the prices of tomatoes in the retail market. However, traders expect it to climb again.
Last year, heavy rainfall and flash floods pushed tomato prices to cross Rs 350 per kg in some retail markets, leading the north India operator of fast-food chain McDonald to temporarily stop using tomatoes in some outlets as there were not enough quantities meeting their quality specifications.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted isolated heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh till August 7. Significantly high rainfall was observed in several districts in the state on Wednesday including major tomato producing regions such as Mandi.Monsoon months typically lead to a spurt in vegetable prices as rainfall affects harvesting including plucking and packaging. Rains also lead to more vegetable wastage during transportation impacting prices.This year, however, tomato prices began rising in June itself in some markets, especially in south India as large parts of the country faced severe heatwave conditions, affecting horticulture crops adversely.