After lemons, now tomatoes are burning a hole in pockets: What’s up with India’s food inflation?

First, it was lemons , now it is tomatoes. India’s food inflation continues to be a concern: From February to April 2022, food prices rose 7.3 per cent on average. While almost all vegetables are costlier, the price of tomatoes has skyrocketed. In big cities across India, the cost has doubled in a year with the retail price in Delhi currently touching Rs 39 per kilogramme (kg). A year ago, it cost Rs 15 per kg in the Capital. In Mumbai and Kolkata, it’s 77 per kg in Mumbai as compared to Rs 28 and Rs 38 respectively last year, according to data compiled by the food ministry. Retail prices of tomatoes were ruling more than Rs 100 per kg in four cities – Port Blair, Shillong, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta – on Wednesday. In most other cities, a kilogramme of tomatoes costs on an average Rs 53.75. The retail price then has jumped 70 per cent from a month ago and 168 per cent from a year, the data reveals. Traders and experts attributed the rise in retail prices to likely tight supply from key growing states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. According to a vegetable vendor in Mumbai, there’s a shortage of supplies of tomatoes. Supplies from the old harvest are dwindling and a new crop will only arrive in about three months, Prem Bais, 36, who is now selling tomatoes at about Rs 80 a kilogramme, up from Rs 50 two months ago told Bloomberg. [caption id=“attachment_10750001” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Food inflation led the April spike in headline retail inflation. Potatoes and fruits like mangoes are also costlier than what they were last year. AFP[/caption] Potatoes to cooking oil, it’s all expensive It’s not just tomatoes but the cost of everything from cooking oil to wheat flour has risen in the country, with headline inflation touching an eight-year high in April. The prices of potatoes are also higher than usual. Though nowhere as expensive, the vegetable costs Rs 27 per kg in Mumbai and Kolkata. Last year, it cost anywhere between Rs 16 to Rs 20. Potatoes and tomatoes are a key part of Indian cooking, along with onions. Thankfully, onion prices are in control. In fact, they are lower than last year. Its price in Delhi on 1 June stood at Rs 24 per kg as compared with Rs 28 per kg on the same day last year. It currently stands at Rs 18 per kg in Mumbai as against Rs 25 a year ago and Rs 23 per kg in Kolkata as compared with Rs 27 per kg last year, reports News18. The blistering heatwave in March and April affected India’s wheat production, pushing authorities to ban exports . The prices of cereal worldwide already hit a high because of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, two major exporters of wheat. India promised to “feed the world” but with risks of low output, the government had to stop overseas sales. Similarly, restrictions have also been imposed on the exports of sugar though there is no complete ban on it like that on wheat. Last week, NITI Aayog, the public policy think tank, said that the rise in wheat prices in the country was unavoidable when the international prices of the commodity are on the rise, as the Indian economy cannot be insulated from global developments. One cannot attribute the wheat price rise in India to lower production, it said. “Price (international price) over one year has increased by 30-40 per cent and in case of India, in case of wheat you find, it (the rise) is not more than 6-7 per cent. Even if wheat output was 111 million tonnes, prices of wheat would have definitely increased in the country,” said Ramesh Chand, member, NITI Aayog, told CNBC-TV18. Prices rising since the pandemic Food inflation has been high since the start of the pandemic. While it came down in mid-2021, the last six months have seen an upward trend. In April, lemons and muskmelon were the most expensive. The cost of a single lemon reached Rs 10 to Rs 15. May saw the prices of broiler chicken ago up because of higher feed costs and increasing demand. We are at the beginning of June and already seeing prices of vegetables surging. Fruits are not immune. The cost of mangoes in some places is also rising. Prices of the Himsagar variety have doubled in Kolkata from Rs 50 last year, according to a Bloomberg report. Madhavi Arora, the lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services, told News18, “While fruits may see seasonal swings ahead, edible oils and cereals may stay high going ahead as well, owing to the Indonesia ban and heatwaves, respectively.” Arora added that while pulses, sugar, and vegetables were sequentially lower, mandi prices show select pressure on vegetable prices in the coming month even as other perishables may remain high. The summer months should see a seasonal rise in food prices, while higher transportation costs may further add to the woes. However, a lot is now dependent on the monsoon. The India Meteorological Department has predicted a “normal monsoon” and if that goes well, food inflation is likely to cool off. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.