Rains hampered supply chains, led to rising tomatoes, onions prices: Govt

Excessive rains in October in north India and later in southern states led to supply chain breaks which in turn has led to price rises for onions and tomatoes the government said on FridayThe allIndia average retail price of tomato has been on the rise from the end of September 2021 due to unseasonal rains in Punjab Uttar Pradesh Haryana and Himachal Pradesh which led to crop damage and delay in arrival from these statesDelayed arrivals from the north Indian states were followed by heavy rains in Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh Telangana and Karnataka which disrupted the supply and also resulted in crop damageAs on November 25 the allIndia average price of tomato was Rs 67kg which is 63 per cent higher than that of last year a release from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food amp Public Distribution saidTomato price is highly volatile as slight disruptions in supply chain or damage due to heavy rains results in spurt in prices Conversely bulk arrival and logistics problems have the potential of creating a situation of glut in the market and resultant dip in retail pricesAs per the Department of Agriculture the estimated kharif production in the current year at 6952 LMT is comparable with 7012 LMT produced last year Arrivals in November this year were only 1962 LMT compared to 2132 LMT last year Tomato arrivals from North Indian states will start from the beginning of December itself which will add to availability and lead to fall in prices In December arrival is expected to be on par with last year it saidIn the case of onion the rise in prices during October 2021 has substantially subsided and the level is below that of the retail prices in 2020 and also 2019 The allIndia average retail price of onion as on November 25 was Rs 39 per kg which is 32 per cent lower than that of the last yearOnion buffer of 208 LMT built in current year under the Price Stabilisation Fund PSF has been released in a calibrated and targeted manner to statescities where prices are increasing over the previous month and also to source markets such as Lasalgaon and Pimplegaon to augment the availability in these key mandis the release saidFurther statesUTs have been offered onions at Rs 21kg exstorage locations Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh have taken onions from the buffer Safal has also been supplied at Rs 26kg inclusive of transportation cost The aggressive releases of onion from the buffer have contributed to stability in prices The Kharif and late Kharif production is estimated at a robust 69 LMT and kharif onion has already started arriving in the marketUnder the Price Stabilisation Fund scheme interest free advances are provided to statesUTs for creation of statelevel Price Stabilisation Fund on a 5050 sharing basis 7525 in case of NE statesSo far six states viz Andhra Pradesh Assam Odisha Tamil Nadu Telangana and West Bengal have drawn the advance and a total of Rs 16415 crore has been released as Central share These states have the funds and mandate to undertake necessary interventions for controlling prices of essential food commodities Other states have also been requested to set up the PSF for statelevel interventions to control price rise in essential food commodities the release addedAlso Read Thousands throng Singhu border to mark protest anniversaryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever