With flashfloods in Himachal Pradesh destroying a majority of the tomato crop, the price of tomatoes has seen a hike, going above ₹60 per kilogram in the Delhi-NCR vegetable markets.
The effect of tomatoes’ price-rise on home-cooked meals has been instantaneous, says a report by an arm of domestic rating agency, Crisil.
The price of a home-cooked meal or a ‘thali’ increased in June, compared with the preceding month, said the report on Tuesday.
A vegetarian thali’s cost moved up 3 per cent to ₹27.1 in June, as compared with ₹26.2 in May, while the same for a non-vegetarian thali was up 4 per cent to ₹54.8 per thali in June as against ₹52.6 in May, as per the report.
Also Read: Govt to sell subsidised tomatoes
Titled ‘Roti, Rice, Rate’, the monthly report explained that an 8 per cent decline in arrivals led to a 36 per cent increase in the price of tomatoes month-on-month which pushed up the cost of the thalis.
Additionally, consumers had to contend with a 4 per cent increase in the cost of potatoes, it said.
In the case of a non-vegetarian thali, a 5 per cent increase in broiler prices also hurt, the report added.
Also Read: Fall in food prices bring relief from inflation
Crisil Intelligence's director, Pushan Sharma, said he expects thali costs to inch up sequentially as seasonal changes push up vegetable prices.
In the case of onions, a moderate price rise is expected in the absence of fresh arrivals and controlled release of rabi stock, while tomatoes, it is weak summer sowing and flooding which will push up the prices.
However, the report said that when compared year-on-year, there was an 8 per cent decline in vegetarian meal prices to ₹27.1 per thali, and 6 per cent in non-vegetarian meals, the report said, adding that this was largely due to the high base of June 2024.
The government had also announced last week to sell tomatoes at subsidised rates after procuring them from south India to counter a price surge.
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