The Department of Consumer Affairs has directed NCCF and NAFED to sell tomatoes at retail prices of Rs 40 per kg from 20 August 2023 in view of the continued decline in tomato prices in the wholesale and retail markets.

The retail sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR started on 14 July 2023. To date, over 15 lakh kg of tomato has been procured by the two agencies, which are being continuously disposed of to retail consumers in major consumption centers in the country. These locations include Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan (Jaipur, Kota), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj) and Bihar (Patna, Muzaffarpur, Arrah, Buxar).

The retail price of tomatoes procured by NCCF and NAFED was initially fixed at Rs 90 per kg, which had been successively reduced in line with the decline in prices in order to ensure benefits to the consumers. The last downward revision of the retail price to Rs 50 per kg was on 15 August 2023, which now stands further reduced to Rs 40 per kg w.e.f. 20 August 2023.

It may be recalled that on the direction of the Department of Consumer Affairs, NCCF and NAFED had commenced the procurement of tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for simultaneous disposal in major consumption centers where retail prices have recorded maximum increase in last one month.