Mandi prices of tomato, onion sharply decline Mandi prices of tomato and onion have witnessed a sharp decline in the last month because of improvement in supplies due to more-than-adequate monsoon rains in key producer states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The benchmark mandi prices of tomato at Kolar in Karnataka stood at Rs 600 per quintal on Monday, down 25% from a month ago. According to mandi officials in Kolar, supplies have been adequate and prices are expected to hold at the current level for the next few weeks. Also read| Govt notifies five ports for imports of pulses from Myanmar, Mozambique & Malawi “Arrivals of tomato are expected to be robust in the next two months provided excessive rains in August do not adversely impact the yield,” Uday Deolankar, former adviser to the Maharashtra Agricultural Prices Commission, told FE. In June, mandi price was prevailing at more than Rs 3,000 a quintal, which pushed retail prices to Rs 90/100 a kg. Heat waves during March-April in the key tomato-growing states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh adversely impacted production and pushed up prices across the country in June. Currently, retail prices are at Rs 30/40 a kg across major cities. Also read| Refiners bought just 4% of all Russian crude exports in June, down from 7% in May: Report According to the second advance estimate of horticulture production in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June), tomato production is expected to decline by more than 4% to 20.34 million tonne (MT) compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, benchmark mandi prices of onion (Lasalgaon, Maharashtra) have dropped 8% to Rs 1,151 a quintal on Monday compared to a month ago, because of a bumper output. Onion production in the 2021-22 crop year is estimated at 31.7 MT, which is 20% more than the previous year. Retail prices are currently in the range of around Rs 20/22 a kg. “Price of onions are expected to fall further as farmers are bringing in their stored produce of summer crops,” Balasaheb Misal, an onion farmer from Manmad, Maharashtra, said. In June, inflation for potato and tomato rose by 23.86% and 158.78%, respectively, while onion price inflation was down 20.74% on year. Tomato, onion and potato have weightage of 0.6%, 0.6% and 1%, respectively, in CPI inflation.
If the current trend continues for a longer period of time, not only oil mills but oilseeds growers will also not be able to get good rates of their produce, says Samir Shah, president of Gujarat State Edible Oils and Oil Seeds Association (GEOA). Shah who is also past president of SOMA says that due to various international factors rates of edible oils had gone up considerably, especially imported oils earlier this year.
“With a view to curb rising prices of edible oil, the Government of India reduced import duty on edible oils. Considering the fact that India is producing hardly 30 percent of its edible oil requirement, the decision was right at that point of time. Now when international prices of edible oils have gone down by 15 percent to 25 percent and high production period has started in edible oil exporting countries, the government should gradually increase import duty to protect local oil mills and oilseeds growers,” said Shah. GEOA has also made representation before Union Minister for Commerce & Consumer Affairs, Piyush Goyal to increase import duty.
In June import duty on edible oils was ranging from 35 to 55 percent, since then the government gradually reduced import duty and at present it is ranging from zero percent to 15 percent on different edible oils, he said.
Just a month back prices of edible oils were through the roof and the government took appropriate measures by reducing import duty in order to protect consumers, says Atul Chaturvedi, president of Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA). “Prices of edible oils are coming down globally. Kharif sowing has already started across the country. In the interest of local farmers, it is high time to enhance import duty in a phased manner to encourage local edible oil value chain,” opined Chaturvedi.
On Thursday imported Palm oil prices were at around Rs 2100 per 15 kg as against local Rs 2700 and Rs 2550 of groundnut and cottonseed oils. Prices of other local oils including ricebran, coconut, soyabean and mustard remained as high as Rs 2350, Rs 2520, Rs 2500 and Rs 2580 respectively.
India imports around 13-13.5 million tonnes of edible oils, of which around 8-8.5 million tonnes (around 63 per cent) are palm oil. Though the price of other imported Sunflower oil remained at around Rs 2700 per 15 kg, but import quantity of the oil is much lower than that of palm oil.