After Onion, Soaring Prices Of Tomato And Dal Dampen Festive Fervour

People are facing a hard time in the festive season due to the price hike.

After onions, tomatoes and dal are next in line to bear the brunt of supply shortages and rising prices. (Getty Images)

New Delhi: After onions, tomatoes and dal are next in line to bear the brunt of supply shortages and rising prices. Since the past few weeks, tomato prices have seen a surge of around 70 percent in Delhi. People are facing a hard time in the festive season due to the price hike. While in the last one week, the price of urad dal has increased by Rs 450-Rs 850 per quintal in the major markets of the country. Along with urad, the prices of moong, masoor, and chickpeas (chana) dal have also gone up. The prices of vegetables in Maharashtra, Karnataka and the northern regions have been shooting up due to various factors including heavy rain. While experts opine that pulses will be more expensive because the urad crop has suffered in Madhya Pradesh due to the incessant rain. At the same time, sowing of pulses has also been estimated to be less in this kharif season than last year. The modal price of tomatoes in Delhi was Rs 30 per kg but has now jumped to Rs 40-Rs 60 per kg. Not only in Delhi, but tomato prices have also increased drastically across the country. According to the website of the Central Consumer Affairs Department, onion price in Chandigarh was Rs 52 per kg last Wednesday. While the commodity is selling at Rs 30-35 per kg in Maharashtra. Watch | Tomatoes too will pinch your pocket On Thursday, a 25 kg sack of good variety tomatoes was sold at an average price above Rs 800 in Delhi's wholesale market Azadpur Mandi. The average variety of tomatoes was Rs 500 per sack. According to the Azad Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) price list, the wholesale price of tomatoes was Rs 8-Rs 34 per kg and 560.3 tonnes of tomatoes arrived in the wholesale market on Wednesday. The tomato crop is getting spoiled due to floods and the number of trucks arriving daily has come down to 20 from the earlier 40. According to traders, tomato prices might increase in the coming days due to increased demand during the festive season. While Madhya Pradesh has received non-stop rain for 40 days which has damaged the fields and the crop. It also affected the crop of green gram and black gram by 25-30 percent. If the rain continues in the state then black gram and green gram might suffer further losses and their prices might increase by 5-10 percent. (with inputs from agencies)