Wholesale prices of essential vegetables—tomato, potato, and onion (TOP)—to rise moderately in the coming months, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). This is followed by a steady decline in TOP wholesale prices from December 2024 through mid-April 2025 driven by higher kharif crop arrivals hitting the market and sustained increase in rabi arrivals.
Data shows that from the second half of April to 22 May 2025, the prices of tomato and potato saw a slight uptick. Onion prices, on the other hand, continued to fall. The average wholesale price of potatoes between 1 and 22 May 2025 was Rs 1,885 per quintal, which was 4.8% higher than the monthly wholesale price averaged in April 2025. Wholesale potato prices began rising after 26 April due to a muted arrival. CMIE expects the potato prices to continue increasing month-on-month in the next two months, ranging between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,100 per quintal.
On the other hand, wholesale tomato prices also rose by 9.2% in April 2025 and averaged Rs 1,298 per quintal. This is higher than the low of Rs 1,190 per quintal recorded in March. In the first three weeks of May, it again increased by 4.4%, averaging Rs 1,356 per quintal.
"We expect prices to continue rising in June and July 2025, ranging between Rs 1,700-Rs 1,800 per quintal," says CMIE analysis. "Over the past ten years, prices have consistently increased between May and July, and we expect this seasonal trend to hold in 2025 as well," it added.
Even as the onion prices have been declining since December and stood at Rs 1,813 per quintal between 1-22 May, it is expected to inch up slightly as well. The strong supply helped in dropping onion prices in March to Rs 2,700 per quintal against the rise of Rs 4,869 in November last year.
CMIE anticipates onion prices to hover around Rs 2,000 per quintal since there is no newly harvested rabi onion crop entering the market. However, a healthy rabi crop output this year will likely help keep this increase in check, it said.
