60% drop in avg wholesale price of tomatoes in 15 days

Nashik: The average wholesale price of tomatoes at the Pimpalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) have dropped by around 60% in the last 15 days — from Rs 480 per crate on Aug 16 to Rs 201 per crate on the last working day on Aug 31.
The retail price of tomatoes in the retail markets of Nashik city has also dropped between Rs 20 and Rs 25 per kg.A fortnight ago, one kg of tomatoes were fetching around Rs 50.

According to an official from the Pimpalgaon APMC, the rise in supply as compared to the demand has led to the drop in tomato prices.
“The arrival of tomatoes at Pimpalgaon APMC has increased four times in the last 15 days — from 42,000 crates per day on Aug 16 to 1.60 lakh crates on Aug 31,” the official said.
“For the first time this season, the daily arrival of tomatoes have crossed the 1 lakh crates-mark. About 1.6 lakh crates of tomatoes were auctioned on Saturday — season’s highest daily arrival at Pimpalgaon,” the official added.
Harvest of kharif tomatoes in Nashik district begins in Aug and continues till Dec. “The arrival of kharif tomatoes at Pimpalgaon is expected to increase further in the next few days. Last year, the daily arrival of tomatoes at Pimpalgaon in the first half of September had increased to over 2 lakh crates,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the minimum and maximum wholesale tomato prices at Pimpalgaon on Saturday were recorded at Rs 50 and Rs 331 per crate, respectively.
The average acreage of kharif tomato plantation in the Nashik district is estimated to be around 21,000 hectares, with a productivity of 30 tonnes per hectare. The kharif tomato production in the district this season is anticipated at 6.30 lakh tonnes.