Hyderabad: In a respite for consumers, tomato prices dropped to about Rs 40 to Rs 46 per kg in Chittoor’s Madanapalle market on Sunday, August 13.
The Madanapalle market, which is touted to be Asia’s largest wholesale market, often acts as a bellwether for price trends for essentials commodities in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In the last few months, tomato prices skyrocketed due to incessant rains across the country, caused damages to life, property, and crops.
In July, tomato prices in Hyderabad had hovered around Rs 200 per kg.
Throughout the country, many restaurants and eateries cut down on the use of tomatoes in food preparation, with major fast food chain McDonalds also opting out of using the vegetable in their burgers.
The firm had issued a notice explaining the unavailability of tomatoes from their food items. Many tomato farmers went all in with the price rise, earning crores from their sale of the vegetable.
A tomato farmer in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district earned a whopping Rs 4 crore in 45 days, while a Telangana farmer hit the jackpot by making Rs 2 crore by selling tomatoes in July.
However, the price rise also led to numerous high-profile robberies. A tomato farmer from Andhra Pradesh was allegedly murdered by unidentified persons to rob him of the money he fetched by selling tomatoes.
Around 400 kg tomatoes stacked in a vehicle outside a farmer’s house in Pune were stolen along with the vehicle last month.
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