From households to McDonald’s stores in North and East India, tomatoes are making everyone distraught. Over the last fortnight, prices of the staple ingredient have risen several-fold, not just in retail markets but also wholesale markets across the country.
In Delhi, the prices have risen from Rs 30-50/kg on June 24 to Rs 100/kg for the hybrid variety and Rs 150-180/kg for the ‘desi’ variety.
The sudden steep rise in prices can be attributed to the low yield of tomatoes. For instance, in Delhi’s Azadpur Mandi — which is Asia’s largest wholesale market for vegetables and fruits — tomato arrivals have dropped to less than 25 per cent, according to traders.
In a bid to understand the price that households have been paying lately and how they are coping with the rise in tomato prices, LocalCircles conducted a national survey which received over 21,000 responses from household consumers located in 311 districts of India. Of the respondents, 61 per cent were men while 39 per cent were women; 46 per cent respondents were from tier 1, 31 per cent from tier 2 and 23 per cent from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
Asked the price they paid most recently for tomatoes, 29 per cent respondents stated that they are paying between Rs 80-100 per kg; 16 per cent said they have been paying Rs 100-120/kg; 16 per cent of households surveyed have been paying Rs 120-150/kg and 6 per cent said over Rs 150/kg.
The survey responses show that some households are not much affected as 11 per cent of respondents indicated that they have been paying less than Rs 30/kg, likely located in districts where tomatoes grow; 6 per cent indicated they are buying tomato for Rs 30-50/kg; and 16 per cent are able to get it for Rs 50-80/kg. In sum, 67 per cent of consumers surveyed confirm that they have been paying more than Rs 80/kg for tomatoes during their latest purchase.
A comparative study with an earlier survey shows that as against 32 per cent households which were paying more than Rs 80/kg for tomatoes on June 27, the percentage of households paying above that threshold has more than doubled to 67 per cent on July 10. Due to limited supplies, good country tomatoes at lower prices are just impossible to get with people reporting paying between Rs 120-180/kg for them.
Given that most households prefer to keep their expenses within the budget, the survey then sought to know how they are coping with the increase in tomato prices. Of 10,345 respondents to this query, 75 per cent indicated that they have reduced consumption of tomatoes, while 7 per cent have stopped buying the staple.
About LocalCircles
LocalCircles, India’s leading community social media platform enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric. LocalCircles is also India’s number 1 pollster on issues of governance, public and consumer interest.
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