Home-Cooked Meals Get Expensive in June as Tomatoes Get Dearer

The price of a home-cooked meal or a thali increased in June compared with the preceding month on dearer tomato prices, a report said on Tuesday.

A vegetarian thali's cost moved up 3% to ₹27.1 in June as compared with ₹26.2 in May, while the same for a non-vegetarian thali was up 4% to ₹54.8 per thali in June as against ₹52.6 in May, as per the report.

The monthly 'Roti, Rice, Rate' report by an arm of domestic rating agency Crisil explained that an 8% decline in arrivals led to a 36% increase in the price of tomatoes on-month which pushed up the cost of the thalis.

Additionally, consumers had to contend with a 4%t increase in the cost of potatoes, it said.

In the case of a non-vegetarian thali, a 5% increase in broiler prices also hurt, it added.

Crisil Intelligence's director Pushan Sharma said it expects thali costs to inch up sequentially as seasonal changes push up vegetable prices.

In the case of onions, a moderate price rise is expected in the absence of fresh arrivals and controlled release of rabi stock, while tomatoes, it is weak summer sowing which will push up the prices.

However, the report said that when compared on-year, there was an 8 per cent decline in vegetarian meal prices to ₹27.1 per thali and 6 per cent in non-vegetarian meals, the report said, adding that this was largely due to the high base of June 2024.