Turkish consumers are experiencing another disappointment in the market price with the dramatic increase of tomato prices in the most recent weeks. As the high prices of potato and onion created a lot of turmoil in Turkish market, the market is now suffering another shock with tomato prices increasing approximately by 400 % compared to the prices in the same period last year.
The crisis started due to a shortage of supply which was caused by 2 main factors. A lot of tomato growers in Antalya started to grow bananas in their greenhouses and reduced their tomato output. Furthermore a lot of tomatoes in Antalya region had to be thrown out due to tuta absoluta disease. Consequently the supply of the tomatoes went down and the price of tomato rose up to 1.5 – 2 USD per kg range.
Industry insiders note that due to the ban of exports to Russia in the last 2 years because of the political crisis between Turkey and Russia, a lot of tomato growers started to explore growing other products such as banana which is why current shortage is happening. The experts expect tomato prices to remain at this level during the course of July and then decline in August with more products becoming available to restore the supply and demand balance in the market place.
Source: Yeni Alanya