Tomato price soaring, Rs. 140 per-kg in retail

By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, May 22: The price of tomatoes has skyrocketed in the Kathmandu Valley over the past few days.

According to the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Board (KFVMDB), the wholesale price of tomatoes has reached up to Rs. 115 per kilogram on Saturday while it was only Rs. 55 two weeks ago.  It shows that the price of tomatoes doubled within two weeks. However, the price of a kilogram of tomatoes has reached over Rs. 140 in retail vegetable shops in the valley at present.

Information officer of KFVMDB Binaya Shrestha said that the price of tomatoes has been soaring in the market due to the short supply. “The production of tomatoes in the country has remained low and traders are importing it from India to meet the demand. The price of tomatoes is high even in India which is resulting in an increase in prices in the local market,” he said.

Only around 30-40 tonnes of tomatoes are being supplied to Kalimati market on a daily basis over the last one week while around 80 tonnes of tomatoes used to enter the market daily two weeks ago, said Bhagawan Chandra Upreti, wholesaler of Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market.

He said that daily around 20 tonnes of vegetables are being imported from India in the Kalimati market.

“It is natural to increase vegetable prices in the market because of the imbalance of demand and supply situation. Price has gone up at the level of farmers at present,” he said.

He said that the farmers themselves got up to Rs. 80-90 per kg for tomatoes.

This time, the farmers got a good price for the tomatoes, he said, however, that production was about half that of last year. 

Tomato is being mainly supplied from Kathmandu, Kavrepalanchok, Dhading and Makwanpur districts.

Shrestha said that the price of other vegetables except tomatoes has declined in the local market due to increasing supply.  All vegetable products, including potatoes, beans, bitter gourds and okra have been cheaper due to the increased supply, he said.

However, the price of off-season leafy greens is high in the market, he said. Trader Upreti said that the price of local vegetables is likely to increase in the days to come as the production will decline due to rainfall. The price of green vegetables, including beans, bitter gourd, okra and brinjal is not more than 25 per kg in the wholesale market at present, he said.

However, vegetable prices are still high in the retail market due to unnatural profit charged by retailers, he said.

Sachita Shimkhada, a consumer of Gatthaghar, Bhaktapur, said that soaring prices of vegetables including tomatoes hit consumers to manage kitchen expenses.

She said that she bought only half a kilogram of tomatoes at Rs. 70 in the retail market due to its price hike.

She asked the government to monitor the retail market and control artificial price hikes of vegetables by the traders.