Prices of key vegetables soar more than 50%

Policy makers may blame soaring crude prices and global trends for unabated rise in inflation, but kitchen economics is being hit hard with prices of key vegetables like potato and tomato surging by up to 55 per cent in just one month.

Potato, whose wholesale price today spiralled to Rs 7 per kg from Rs 4.5 a month ago, and tomato, with price rising Rs one per kg to Rs five in the same period, are among the key ingredients to almost all vegetable dishes in Indian households.

Also, retail prices of these vegetables are much higher at close to Rs 10 per kg in national capital region.

Other than potato and tomato, prices of vegetables like onion, brinjal, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, peas, cucumber, coriander, raddish and bottle gourd (ghiya) have gone up.

The rise is the highest for potato at 55 per cent among the key vegetables, as per figures gathered from country's largest wholesale market at Azadpur.

When asked about rising prices of vegetables, Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Delhi Chairman J K Bansal said the rates depend upon the demand-supply situation of the items on any given day.

He said there has been no unusual rise in the vegetables prices during last one month and arrival is also good.

According to government's data released today, inflation rose to 8.75 per cent in the week ended May 31, its highest level in about past seven years. Besides, the increase of 0.51 per cent from 8.24 per cent in the preceding week has been mainly due to rise in prices of fruits and vegetables.

During the week, prices of fruits and vegetables rose one per cent.