The price of tomato hit a record high in Karachi on Tuesday and reached Rs400 per kilogram from Rs300-320 per kg on Monday.
In the absence of any landed price of the Iranian tomato, greedy traders also brought the price of Swat and Sindh crop at par with the Iranian tomato rate to make huge profits.
But the local administration, like its past practice, quoted an unrealistic retail rate of Rs253 per kg compared to Rs193 per kg on Monday.
In the first week of November, the official retail rate of tomato was Rs117 per kg and Tuesday’s official price clearly indicated that the government itself was revising the price upward.
The price of tomato hit a record high in Karachi on Tuesday and reached Rs400 per kilogram from Rs300-320 per kg on Monday.
Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market President Haji Shahjehan said two containers carrying 44 tonnes of tomato had arrived on Sunday while on Tuesday only one container reached the market.
This failed to bring any relief for consumers. The wholesale price had crossed over Rs300 from Rs180-220 per kg on Monday, he added.
“Being president of the wholesale market, I can only urge the customers to restrict their purchases for two to three days as it may break the monopoly of a few traders as well as bring down the tomato prices,” he said.
Consumers are paying Rs100 for a mere 250 grams or just four tomatoes. They said the government had yet to take serious notice in checking the landed and selling price of the Iranian tomato to curb profiteering by traders.
Here is little solution of that temporary storage of tomatoes, food fusion introduces tomatoes less recipe to dissolve that problem, here is video
