In response to the soaring prices of tomatoes, BigBasket, the online grocery delivery company, offers a helpful alternative. Encouraging its customers through its mobile application, the company suggests, “Facing High Tomato Prices? Try Cooking with Tomato Puree Instead! Crafted from 100% ripe tomatoes.”
Online grocery delivery companies like BigBasket, Zepto, and Blinkit, along with numerous brick-and-mortar retailers, are experiencing a significant increase in the demand for tomato puree and frozen vegetables due to soaring prices of fresh produce. The demand has reached such levels that retailers are struggling to keep up with stock availability, leading manufacturers to escalate their production efforts.
The retail market in Delhi witnessed a significant increase in fresh tomato prices, reaching INR 112 per kg, which is a considerable rise from the previous rate of INR 28 per kg just a month ago. In comparison, a 200 ml container of puree, which is approximately equivalent to 450 gm of tomatoes, is priced at INR 27.
According to a representative from Dabur, the popularity of their tomato puree brand, Hommade, has experienced a significant surge in demand. The company is actively striving to meet this increased demand. Mother Dairy, a major participant in the market for puree and frozen vegetables, has also witnessed a substantial rise in customer interest. Over the past two weeks, they have observed a remarkable 300% spike in demand for tomato puree and a notable 50% increase for frozen vegetables across their stores.
“Production has been ramped up for our tomato puree to take care of the surge in demand,” said a spokesperson for Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable, which owns the Safal brand of purees and frozen vegetables.
Zepto, the quick commerce company, has experienced a substantial 120% increase in tomato puree sales compared to the first week of June.
“Tomato ketchup sales are also 10% higher than in the first week of June,” a company spokesperson said.
Due to heavy rainfall and floods in northern states like Himachal Pradesh, the prices of fruits and vegetables have surged. At the Azadpur wholesale market in New Delhi, tomatoes are being sold at INR 140 per kg. Additionally, the prices of various vegetables such as green peas, French beans, ginger, and coriander have doubled and are now being sold well above INR 100 per kg in the wholesale market.
The torrential rains in the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh have resulted in the destruction of harvest-ready vegetables that were supposed to be grown and dispatched from the region.
“There is a surge in demand (for tomato puree) as well as shortage of supply in equal measure,” said Amit Dutta, chief executive of grocery retailer Le Marche Retail. “Stocks of puree have dried up even at B2B wholesalers, so there is a gap at the moment which might only widen further as the pipeline has been almost finished.”
To address the supply shortage, BigBasket is procuring tomatoes and other vegetables from both Bengaluru and Nashik on a daily basis to meet the demand in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“To reduce the customer discomfort, we are selling tomatoes almost at cost,” said Seshu Kumar, chief buying and merchandising officer, BigBasket, which has seen the sales of tomato puree double since the first week of June.
To curb the soaring prices of tomatoes, the central government has issued directives to procurement agencies, namely the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF). Their mandate is to source tomatoes from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, and subsequently distribute them to prominent consumption hubs, including the National Capital Region.
Read More: Central government takes action to address soaring tomato prices, plans procurement from key states
