Chennai: Onions, tomatoes and potatoes—the indispensable trio of south Indian kitchens—have held steady below 35 per kg at most city retail stores for nearly three weeks. Prices are likely to remain the same for some more weeks, vendors say. Most other vegetables are also under 50 per kg.The cost is less than half at the Koyambedu wholesale market with premium quality onions, tomatoes and potatoes being sold at 15 per kg during peak hours and 12 later. “We call them OTP veggies. They are the benchmark for veggie prices because of production and consumption,” said a senior vendor Ram Mohan of NRC Agro.The low prices in retail markets are due to high availability and poor demand, vendors say. Tomatoes, for example, have been coming from several districts across Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. “The farm price for a 25-kg box of tomatoes now is around 100 to 150 depending on quality,” said Koyambedu Wholesale Market Tomato Merchants Association general secretary A Selvaraj. “The wholesale price per kg is between 10-15 depending on quality,” he said. While the retail vendors in the market sell them for 15-18, most supermarkets and veggie shops offer them for 35 a kg. Online prices vary between 25-30 per kg, while cost of organic tomatoes go up to 60 per kg. Similarly, onions, sourced from Maharashtra and northern districts of Karnataka are available for 10-12 in wholesale and 15-18 in retail. While most retailers were selling them for 25-28, e-commerce vendors floated them for 20-25.Potatoes from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were priced under 15 per kg. “Ideally, it should cost at least 30 per kg in the wholesale market. It is less than half the price now,” said senior vendor V R Sounderrajan. “The harvest is good and several tonnes of vegetables continue to flood the market, but the sales are slow,” he said.Many small hotels have shut while bigger players have restricted their menu due to LPG shortage. “This is not a season for marriages, and several temple managements have cut down on prasadams. All this has had a combined impact on demand,” he said.
