In South Africa, consumers are witnessing a spike in tomato and potato prices. This comes as a result of severe rainfall battering major producing regions over the past two months, as well as lower market volumes being available.
Managing director of agricultural information group Agrimark Trends, Johnny van der Merwe, said the price of tomatoes has spiked 21% in just one week: “The latest tomato price increased with 21% to R5,40 per kilogram last week, which was due to a 19% decrease in supply levels. If we continue to have a wetter climate, tomato prices can see significant support next year again.”
Potatoes were in the spotlight as well, after seeing a significant increase in prices. “For a 10 kilogram bag of potatoes, consumers are now paying R41,29, a surge of 39%,” Van Der Merwe added. “When we look into the latest price movements in the vegetable industry, we saw the potato prices increasing by 39%, as was expected last week, to R41,29 per 10 kilogram bag. This was mostly due to higher rainfall and lower volumes available on the markets last week.”
[ R1 = € 0,056 ]
Source: capetownetc.com