Vegetable prices shoot up in Mumbai; better rework your budget

Do you love tomatoes? Here’s the bad news: Mumbai has a supply shortage but the demand has remained unchanged. So, retailers are doing what they always do — jack up the prices.

Tomatoes, which were available at Rs15 a kg till about a week ago, now cost Rs40 a kg. “There is a shortage in the market. We are getting only half of what we used to get,” Shankar Pingle, Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) spokesperson, said. “The situation will worsen. There is a dearth of tomatoes throughout the country. So, we cannot even get tomatoes from other states.”

The reason behind the short supply is the unexpected rainfall in various parts of the state over the past few days. “The rain has resulted in crop failure. Sharad Maru, APMC’s director of trade, said.  

“Tomato cultivating areas received heavy rainfall at a time when the temperature should be warm for it to ripen,” the APMC’s director of trade said. “Sudden rain led to a sudden change in the weather patterns.”

And to add to your woes, here’s some more bad news: the prices of green spinach, fenugreek, peas, coriander, lemon and garlic too have gone up considerably.

A bunch of coriander costs Rs10 a week ago. Now it is Rs40. A bunch of spinach now costs Rs10; it was Rs5. Methi has gone up to Rs25 from Rs8 for a bunch. Green peas have doubled to Rs120 a kg. 

“The wholesale rate of vegetables has increased,” Bhausaheb Shinde, a vegetable vendor in the Dadar area, said. “We are forced to sell vegetables at a higher rate… prices have been fluctuating for the past one week.”