Tomato prices expected to fall after higher supplies from Maharashtra, MP
New Delhi (PTI): The government on Friday said retail prices of tomatoes are expected to fall with higher supply of new crops from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The retail prices have shot up to Rs 200-250 per kilogram in several parts of the country as supply chain got disrupted due to monsoon rains and other issues.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey said, "Prices of tomato are expected to come down with the increase in arrival of new crop from Nashik, Naryangaon and Aurangabad belt in Maharashtra and also from Madhya Pradesh."
He said the "current increase in tomato prices may incentivize farmers to grow more tomato crop which is expected to stabilize the prices in coming months".
Choubey attributed the recent increase in prices to a combination of factors like "crop seasonality, white fly disease in Kolar (Karnataka), instantaneous arrival of monsoon rains in northern part of the country which adversely affected tomato crops in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and logistics disruptions in isolated areas due to heavy rains."
The minister informed that the average daily retail price of tomato had crossed Rs 150 per kg in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the week July 10-16.
As on July 18, the average retail price in Delhi declined to Rs 130 per kg and to Rs 127.70 per kg in Punjab.
In order to check prices of tomatoes and make them affordable, the government has started their procurement under Price Stabilisation Fund and is making them available at a highly subsidised rate to consumers.
The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring tomatoes from 'mandis' in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and making them available at affordable prices in major consuming centres in Delhi-NCR, Bihar, Rajasthan, etc.
Tomatoes have been disposed initially at retail price of Rs 90 per kg which has been reduced to Rs 80 per kg from July 16 and further to Rs 70 per kg from July 20.
Till July 18, a total of 391 tonne tomatoes had been procured for continuous retail disposal in major consumption centres for the benefit of consumers.
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Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
