What’s the reason behind exponential increase in tomato rates?

• Tomato crop arrival has been delayed in Sindh and Balochistan owing to cold weather.
• Increase in tomato consumption by some 10-12 percent in current month also raised the demand.

Rising prices of tomatoes have become a headache for consumers as the exorbitant prices have become too much for buyers to bear. With bills being submitted in assemblies and government getting bashed, the question remains what has led to this situation.

Ministry of National Food and Security (MNFSR) Food Commissioner Dr Waseem Hassan pointed out many factors behind the price hike including the recent wave of cold weather and transport delays. As per reports, tomato crop arrival has been delayed in Sindh and Balochistan owing to the cold weather, while Punjab's production is already on the market which accounts for a tomato shortage resulting in very high price, he said.

The commissioner informed that most of the national highways and motorways were choked following heavy traffic for several days due to the annual Tableegh-e-ijtima in Raiwand (Lahore). Tomato supply from KPK therefore took additional time to reach the market especially in Karachi and consequently a demand supply gap was created, which resulted in price increase, he added.

Furthermore, the increase in tomato consumption by some 10-12 percent during the current month also raised demand.

As per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator, the official price of 1 kg tomatoes on average in major cities are Rs163.78 (Islamabad), Rs157.11 (Rawalpindi), 155.16(Lahore), 149.66 (Karachi) and 153.03 (Hyderabad).

However, the figures are in stark contrast to the situation on ground as markets in the twin cities revealed that tomatoes were being sold in the range of Rs200-250 per kg, wile were being sold at as high as Rs300 per kg in Karachi and some other parts of the country recording an increase of up to Rs150 in a single day.

The commissioner says that that crop arrival situation would improve in the next 48 hours and the prices would come down.