Rise in vegetable prices drive up inflation rates
The Centre will purchase tomatoes from states that grow and sell at a discounted rate to major cities.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks retail inflation, reached a three-month high of 4.81 percent in June, up from 4.31 percent in May and 4.7 percent in April, as vegetable costs skyrocketed. According to government data issued on Wednesday, strong inflation in vegetables, pulses, meat, and fish caused the Consumer Food Price Index, which tracks changes in food retail prices, to increase to 4.49 percent in June from 2.96 percent in May.
The research revealed that, despite a 1% reduction in costs year over year, vegetable inflation increased by 12.2% in June 2023 compared to May. While the costs of meat and fish jumped 3.8% in June, the prices of eggs increased by 5.5%. “Vegetables are some of the highly volatile components in India’s CPI basket. Within that, prices of onion, garlic, tomato, potato, and ginger are the most unstable”, said Debopam Chaudhuri, chief economist at Piramal Enterprises. He also added that “prices of tomatoes and potatoes spike during the summer-monsoon months of June-September.”
The Centre has decided to buy tomatoes from states that grow them and sell them at a discount starting on Friday in major cities in order to solve the tomato problem. The Department of Consumer Affairs has instructed the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation to purchase household essentials from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for distribution in major consumption centers where retail prices have skyrocketed.
According to a local social media network LocalCircles survey, tomato consumption has substantially decreased since costs have risen to ludicrous levels. According to the survey based on data from 311 districts, up to 75% of households decided to reduce consumption while 7% had entirely stopped buying tomatoes.
