Explainer: Tomato leave from hotels and restaurants, escape from burger
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New Delhi : Due to the rising prices of tomatoes in India, the taste of delicious dishes of hotels and restaurants has deteriorated. The situation is that tomato has disappeared from the popular burgers among the common man in urban areas. Burger King, which operates more than 400 restaurants in the country, has stopped using this vegetable in food amid rising tomato prices. Not only this, earlier companies like McDonald’s and Subway have also removed tomatoes from their dishes. The biggest thing is that in order to control the uncontrollable prices of tomatoes, the government has to import tomatoes from Nepal. It is reported that after receiving instructions from the government, the National Consumer Cooperative Federation of India (NCCF) has imported about 10 tonnes of tomatoes from Nepal, the last consignment of which has been sent to several urban areas of Uttar Pradesh on late Wednesday night, so that Today on Thursday, the tomatoes brought from Nepal through mobile vans can be sold among the consumers at the rate of Rs 50 per kg.
Burger King stopped using tomatoes
The surprising thing is that Burger King, a company that sells burgers and other food items, has stopped using this vegetable in its food amid rising tomato prices. With this, she has joined the list of companies like McDonald’s and Subway running restaurants. Burger King, which operates around 400 restaurants in India on behalf of ‘Restaurant Brands Asia’, cited ‘quality’ and ‘supply’ issues as reasons for removing tomatoes from its menu in a message on its website.
unable to include tomatoes in food
Burger King’s message states that Restaurant Brands Asia Limited has very high standards of quality, as we believe in serving genuine and authentic food. Due to uncertainty regarding the quality and supply of tomato crop, we are unable to include tomatoes in our diet. Rest assured, we’ll be back with tomatoes soon. The company has requested the customers to maintain ‘patience’ for this situation.
Tomatoes need a vacation too
Some Burger King India supply centers have reportedly put up a notice with some humour, saying, “Even tomatoes need a holiday… We are unable to include tomatoes in our food.”
Tomato 200 rupees kg in retail market
The retail price of tomato has touched Rs 200 per kg in some parts of the country amid supply disruption due to heavy rains. This has forced the government to import tomatoes for the first time. India is currently importing tomatoes from Nepal. Last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament that India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal amid a record rise in prices in the domestic market.
Tomatoes banned from McDonald’s and Subway
In July, fast food chain McDonald’s said it had stopped using tomatoes in its food items at most of its stores in northern and eastern parts of the country due to unavailability of quality products. After that, Subway India also informed to stop using tomatoes to deal with the situation of rising prices in major cities.
Tomato being imported from Nepal
Indian National Consumer Cooperative Federation Limited (NCCF) has informed on Wednesday that the consignment of tomatoes coming from Nepal will be sold in Uttar Pradesh. NCCF has contracted to import 10 tonnes of tomatoes from Nepal. Along with imports, NCCF is also procuring tomatoes domestically on behalf of the Central Government and selling them to consumers at a subsidized rate. NCCF is ‘intervening’ at the retail level following instructions from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
import of 10 tons of tomatoes
NCCF Managing Director Anees Joseph Chandra said that we have signed a contract to import 10 tonnes of tomatoes from Nepal. Out of this, 3-4 tonnes were distributed in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and about five tonnes of tomatoes are still on the way. It will be sold in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. He said that tomatoes get spoiled quickly. Because of this it cannot be sold in other parts of the country.
Tomatoes are being sold from mobile vans
Anees Joseph Chandra said that imported and locally procured tomatoes in Uttar Pradesh are being sold through mobile vans at select locations along with retail outlets. He said that tomatoes procured from major producing states of the country in Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan are being sold at a concessional rate of Rs 50 per kg.
Domestic arrivals started in mandis
When asked about further import of tomatoes from Nepal, Joseph Chandra said that the import from Nepal would be done in a systematic manner, as domestic arrivals have started in the mandis of some states. He said that in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, the arrival of new tomato crop has started in the wholesale mandis and the prices are also coming down.
Government selling tomatoes through NCCF and Nafed
Please tell that within the last two to three months, the price of tomato has increased by up to 1400 percent in the country. In such a situation, tomatoes were sold in the retail markets in different cities of the country for Rs 140 to Rs 400 per kg. In such a situation, to curb the rising prices of tomatoes, from July 14, 2023, through its agencies like NCCF and NAFED, the government is selling tomatoes at the rate of Rs 70 to 50 per kg in many states including Delhi-NCR.
how much the prices fall
According to government data, the all-India average wholesale price of tomato has come down to Rs 88.22 per kg on August 15, compared to Rs 97.56 per kg a month ago. Similarly, the all-India average retail price of tomato has come down from Rs 118.7 per kg a month back to Rs 107.87 per kg now, data shows. Meanwhile, arrival of fresh tomato crop has started in wholesale mandis in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, which is bringing down the prices.
Vegetable prices rise 62.12 percent in July
According to the Consumer Affairs Ministry, wholesale inflation was down from minus 4.12 per cent in June due to a 62.12 per cent increase in the prices of vegetables in July. In July last year it was 14.07 per cent. According to government data, inflation in food articles stood at 14.25 per cent in July, compared to 1.32 per cent in June.
why tomato became expensive
According to media reports, heavy pre-monsoon rains in various states of India led to disruption of tomato procurement and consequent supply chain disruptions in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The all-India average price of tomato declined to Rs 116.73 per kg in the retail market on 23 July and started rising again from 24 July. According to government data, on August 11, the price of tomato was Rs 124.43 per kg.
Market affected by the price of vegetables
Rahul Bajoria, Head of Economic Research, EM Asia (Excluding China), Barclays, said the slower pace of decline in the Wholesale Price Index on a monthly basis is almost entirely due to vegetable prices, which have actually risen. Basically the market is getting affected due to the rising prices of vegetables. Apart from vegetables, an increase was seen in cereals and pulses, where inflation stood at 8.31 per cent and 9.59 per cent, respectively.
RBI kept repo rate unchanged
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the policy rate repo unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the third time in a row last week with the aim of keeping rising retail inflation under control and boosting the economy. Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the work regarding inflation is not over yet. Risks to inflation remain due to volatility in the prices of food commodities and energy in the international market and persisting geo-political tensions and weather related uncertainties.
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