It’s tumbling tomatoes: 20/kg at supermarkets

Chennai: Summer salad just got a whole lot cheaper. Tomato prices plummeted as a glut of the veggies flooded the Koyambedu market. Most street vendors sold up to 6kg of ripe, red tomatoes for 100, while in the supermarkets, they were sold for 20/kg.At the Koyambedu wholesale market, vendors sold them for 10-16 depending on the quality. Vendors said they were able to source the vegetable from markets in Dindigul, Palani, Oddanchatram, Udumalpet, and Coimbatore, besides Kolar in Karnataka and Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh. "The harvest is so good that the farmers are selling a 25kg box for 220-250. Tomatoes grown in Tamil Nadu are smaller and the wholesale price in the market for this is around 10/kg. Tomatoes purchased from Kolar are a little more expensive," said S K Subbiah of SKS Traders in the Koyambedu market.The number of trucks entering the Koyambedu market has gone up over the past few days. "The supply has increased. To avoid wastage, we keep prices low," said Sudhakar, who owns a vegetable shop in Arumbakkam. "Women who normally buy one or two kilos, take three or five kilos to make ketchups and pickles. They ask us for premium quality ripe fruit," he said.Neighbourhood shops say low costs may not last long. "When temperatures go up, there is likely to be a dip in supply. Farmers too may opt for another crop. Mostly, we see this during the summer," said Shankar R, who owns a store in Koyambedu.While many households have learned to ration the use of tomatoes, many such as Saradha G from Adyar say they make tomato paste (puree) for summers. "I freeze them and they have a long shelf life. I reduce the quantity of raw tomatoes and add these to my curries when costs go up," she said.