Tomato Prices Crash In Manyam District
E-commerce websites are quoting local tomatoes at ₹15 per kg and hybrid varieties at up to ₹50 per kg. Farmers from Medchal and other districts said excess supply had led to the crash: Reports
HYDERABAD: Tomato prices have sharply fallen across city markets and villages in Telangana, with street vendors in weekly markets selling two kilograms for as little as ₹10, while wholesale rates have dipped to single digits due to a surge in arrivals.
E-commerce websites are quoting local tomatoes at ₹15 per kg and hybrid varieties at up to ₹50 per kg. Farmers from Medchal and other districts said excess supply had led to the crash.
E. Venkateshwarlu, market secretary, explained that the difference between the prices in the districts and Hyderabad was due to transport and commission charges being levied by brokers. Deccan Chronicle had reported farmers at the Kothaguda market in Mahbubabad district were offered less than ₹2 a kg for their produce, after which they gave away the tomatoes for free.
A. Krishna, a 50-year-old farmer from Medchal cultivating tomatoes and other vegetables on about 10 acres, said: “We raised mostly tomatoes as the weather will not be suitable in the coming months. But now the supply is high and prices have dropped drastically.”
Another farmer, L. Devender, said they are selling tomatoes for as little as ₹5 per kg in the wholesale market. A 20-kg box was fetching around ₹120, bringing the per kg rate down significantly. Local varieties in particular are arriving in large quantities, pushing prices further down.
According to Venkateshwarlu, tomato prices in Hyderabad have hovered between ₹8 and ₹10 per kg over the past month. “Last year during the same period, tomatoes were selling at ₹46 per kg. This season, prices are not crossing ₹20 due to heavy arrivals,” he said.
Retail prices vary between ₹10 and ₹15 per kg depending on quality. Other vegetables such as carrots and potatoes are also witnessing moderate rates, with carrots selling at ₹15–25 per kg and potatoes between ₹13 and ₹15 per kg.
Consumers have mixed feelings. Some are buying in bulk to prepare chutneys for upcoming journeys, while others note that tomatoes cannot be stored for long.
B. Sridevi said: “We are travelling to Tirupati next week and tomato chutney is carried by any family so that it can be eaten with rice, chapati, etc.”
S. Kausalya added that tomatoes cannot be bought in large quantities unless they are slightly greenish. “If they are green, they can be stored, but reddish tomatoes ripen faster and the others get white fungus,” she explained.