KARACHI: After the onion crisis, consumers now have to brave high prices of tomato which is available for Rs160 per kg in the retail market as price regulators watch helplessly from the sidelines.

Consumers complained that tomato’s high price is not justifiable keeping in view its substandard quality and small size. Traders are even selling unripe tomatoes at very high prices. For slightly rotten variety, they are demanding Rs140 per kg.

Both onion and tomato prices had started crawling up ahead of Eidul Azha. For instance, tomato price shot up to Rs50-60 per kg nine days prior to Eid from Rs30-40 per kg following a jump in its wholesale price to Rs40 from Rs25-30 per kg.

The official mandi and retail rates of tomato had been enhanced to Rs43 and Rs47 per kg on Aug 21, which were Rs38 and Rs42 per kg on Aug 14.

Price shoots up to Rs160 per kg in metropolis

On Sept 18, the Karachi commissioner had fixed mandi and retail rates of tomato at Rs118 and Rs128 which were Rs98 and Rs108 per kg respectively on Sept 17.

On Sept 1, tomato’s mandi and retail rates were fixed at Rs68 and Rs75 per kg respectively.

Some nine days ahead of Eid, onion’s retail price also rose to Rs60 per kg from Rs30 per kg due to increase in its wholesale price to Rs35-40 per kg from Rs20 per kg.

Consumers had paid Rs100-120 per kg for onion during Eidul Azha but now its price has come down to Rs70-80 per kg. Some imported varieties with higher moisture contents are available for Rs40-60 per kg. The role of Karachi commissioner in issuing and monitoring prices also fluctuated with the rates. On Aug 14, the mandi and retail rates of onion were fixed at Rs38 and Rs43 per kg, which were later enhanced to Rs48 and Rs53 per kg on Aug 21.

On Sept 18, the Karachi commissioner had issued mandi and retail rates of Rs58 and Rs64 per kg respectively while in the middle of September these rates were Rs78 and Rs86 per kg respectively.

Hoarding of onions

Traders in the retail markets said that other than lesser arrival from Balochistan coupled with higher demand during Eid, massive hoarding of onion by major profiteers can also be blamed for an artificial crisis.

They said onion could be stored for at least a month if it is stocked in open, fresh air. They said some major profiteers had resorted to heavy stockpiling and then started releasing stocks in limited quantities prior to and after Eid. As a result, the market faced shortage and consumers took the costly ride by paying heavy prices.

Some recent arrival of onions from neighbouring countries had somewhat stabilised prices otherwise onion price would have crossed over Rs150 per kg.

They, however, ruled out hoarding in tomato as its quality deteriorates in a few days.

Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Market Superhighway’s president Haji Shahjehan blamed the retailers for charging huge profits from the consumers.

“The profit margin should remain within the range of Rs10-20 per kg after procuring any commodity from the mandi but in absence of any effective price-checking mechanism, retailers are making heaps of profit,” he said.

The wholesale market’s president said Balochistan’s tomato crop is about to end while Sindh’s and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s crops will arrive next month. 

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017