Editor's Pick: Centre issues directive to control tomato prices

After tomato prices rocketed to ₹200 a kg in some cities, the Centre on Wednesday directed its agencies to procure stocks from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and sell them at a discount in areas with high prices. The Department of Consumer Affairs directed the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) to immediately procure tomatoes from markets in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for distribution in major consumption centres where retail prices have recorded the biggest increase in the past one month. “The stocks of tomato will be distributed through retail outlets at discounted prices to the consumers in Delhi-NCR region by Friday,” a government release said. According to data shared by the Ministry, Himachal Pradesh is the only State where tomatoes are harvested in July. But rain and floods in Himachal have caused transportation disruptions, pushing up the price of tomato further in northern cities. On Wednesday, Bathinda in Punjab recorded the highest price — ₹203 a kg — in the country. The national average price of the day was ₹111.71. Last year, on the same date, the price was ₹40.83. The Ministry had said earlier that the price increase is seasonal and would come down when stocks from HP reached vegetable markets in the northern parts of the country. “The prices will stay high for the next 15-20 days. It will not go higher,” the official said. The Ministry said that southern and western regions being surplus States, feed to other markets depending on production seasons. It added that supplies are coming mostly from Maharashtra’s Satara, Narayangaon and Nashik areas and stocks are expected to last till July-end. Meanwhile, retail inflation hardened in June to a three-month high of 4.81%, from May’s 4.31%, driven by a spike in food price gains due to the rising costs of items such as cereals, pulses, milk and tomatoes. Food price inflation quickened to 4.5%, from less than 3% in the previous month. While June’s pace of consumer price gains snapped a four-month streak of moderation from the 6.5% uptick logged in January, urban consumers faced almost 5% inflation last month with food price inflation almost doubling in pace from May’s 2.4% to 4.3%. June was the fourth month in a row that retail inflation stayed below the RBI’s upper tolerance threshold of 6%, but economists opine that the ongoing upturn in vegetable prices and the “flooding plus uneven monsoon” situation could exacerbate food price pressures on headline inflation. The Hindu’s Editorials Undermining autonomy: On judicial endorsement of a tenure extension system Migrant crisis: On the Netherlands and a critical dynamic of European politics The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz A new high-speed railway has been planned between Thiruvananthapuram and which city? Kochi Kannur Thrissur Kozhikode To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 13 July 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Centre issues directive to control tomato prices After tomato prices rocketed to ₹200 a kg in some cities, the Centre on Wednesday directed its agencies to procure stocks from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and [sell them at a discount in areas with high prices.]( The Department of Consumer Affairs directed the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) to immediately procure tomatoes from markets in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for distribution in major consumption centres where [retail prices have recorded the biggest increase in the past one month.]( “The stocks of tomato will be distributed through retail outlets at discounted prices to the consumers in Delhi-NCR region by Friday,” a government release said. According to data shared by the Ministry, Himachal Pradesh is the only State where tomatoes are harvested in July. But rain and floods in Himachal have caused transportation disruptions, [pushing up the price of tomato further in northern cities.]( On Wednesday, Bathinda in Punjab recorded the highest price — ₹203 a kg — in the country. [The national average price of the day was ₹111.71](. Last year, on the same date, the price was ₹40.83. The Ministry had said earlier that the price increase is seasonal and would come down when stocks from HP reached vegetable markets in the northern parts of the country. “The prices will stay high for the next 15-20 days. It will not go higher,” the official said. The Ministry said that southern and western regions being surplus States, feed to other markets depending on production seasons. It added that supplies are coming mostly from Maharashtra’s Satara, Narayangaon and Nashik areas and stocks are expected to last till July-end. Meanwhile, retail inflation hardened in June to a [three-month high of 4.81%,]( May’s 4.31%, driven by a spike in food price gains due to the rising costs of items such as [cereals, pulses, milk and tomatoes.]( price inflation quickened to 4.5%, from less than 3% in the previous month. While June’s pace of consumer price gains snapped a four-month streak of moderation from the 6.5% uptick logged in January, urban consumers faced almost 5% inflation last month with food price inflation almost doubling in pace from May’s 2.4% to 4.3%. June was the fourth month in a row that retail inflation stayed below the RBI’s upper tolerance threshold of 6%, but economists opine that the ongoing upturn in vegetable prices and the “flooding plus uneven monsoon” situation could exacerbate food price pressures on headline inflation. 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