After onion, “market forces” determining tomato and edible oil prices are set to add to the government’s woes.
While retail onion prices were between `50-60 per kg, tomato sold at `60 per kg in the city on Monday owing to short supply. On January 15, retail tomato prices had peaked to `70-80 per kg, traders said.
Prices of edible oils like sunflower, groundnut, mustard, soya and vanaspati have also increased sharply across the country by up to 62 per cent in the past one year, according to consumer affairs ministry.
Food inflation continues to remain high at 16.91 per cent for the week ended January 1.
Against the high retail prices, the wholesale price of tomato was `15-30 per kg in Azadpur mandi, general secretary Tomato Merchants Association Subhash Chuk said.
The scene in other metros too was the same. Tomato sold at `50 per kg in Mumbai in retail while prices stood at `35 per kg in Kolkata and `40 per kg in Chennai, traders said.
Arrival of tomato is almost 40 per cent less from producing states Gujarat, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Rajasthan, where the crop is not ripening because of winter chill. Besides, traders in Delhi are exporting about half of the quantity they are buying to Pakistan.
“Out of a total of 20-30 trucks of tomato each carrying 10 tonnes arriving in Azadpur daily, almost 10-15 vehicles are dispatched to Pakistan through Attari-Wagah border everyday,” Mr Chuk said.
In the edible oils, the maximum rise in retail prices was in sunflower oil, which increased to `110 per kg in Delhi on January 14 from `68 per kg last year. In Kolkata and Chennai sunflower oil prices during the same period were `75-85 per kg.