KARACHI: The price of tomatoes are expected to come down as the imports and local supplies of the vegetable will take momentum, ARY News reported on Thursday.
According to fruit and vegetable exporters, the government has issued permits to bring in 15500 tonnes of Iranian tomato to Pakistan.
Moreover, local supplies of the vegetable from Badin are also trickling down in markets, which have brought the price 100 rupees per kilogram down, All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers Association sources said.
The crop from some producing areas of Mirpurkhas and Badin have started to arrive in the market.
As the supplies from farms picking up momentum, a bag of 15 kilograms of tomatoes being sold at 1500 rupees in Badin market.
The vegetable however being sold at inflated prices in Karachi i.e. 460 rupees per K.G at the markets of posh areas and Rs. 280 per kilograms in other markets of the city.
A cash crop, tomatoes provide high yields and ready for harvest in a relatively short time. But most growers prefer not to cultivate the crop more than once a year.
Tomatoes can be sown twice a year in July-August with harvest in November-December, and in January-February with harvest in March-April. But growers avoid the crop the second time around as they don’t expect good market rates due to extensive tomato crop cultivation in different parts of Pakistan.
According to a 2017 report the country’s annual tomato production was 543,160 tonnes of which Sindh, the biggest contributor, grows 35 per cent of the yield. Balochistan produces 27pc of the crop, Punjab 19pc and KP contributes 16pc of the vegetable production.
