Tomato volumes at the Johannesburg fresh produce market are significantly lower than last year during this period, with a concomitant rise in prices. Currently, the average tomato price is R20 (just under one euro) per kilogram, slightly down from R23 earlier in the month.
Tomatoes as a whole aren't scarce, but high-quality class one tomatoes and niche tomatoes (mini plums and cherry tomatoes) are in short supply, says a market agent. "The crème de la crème of South African tomatoes just aren't there."
A comparison of tomato tonnages (bars) and prices (lines) between 2023 in blue and 2024 in red, showing lower volumes and concomitant higher prices this season (graph courtesy of Jan Potgieter, GROW)
The Western Cape tomato season, which would normally stretch into May, ended earlier because of unseasonal rain. In Limpopo Province some producers' crops are small as a result of excessive heat. Tomato plants abscised flowers to cope with heat stress, and the fruit that did set have either struggled to reach maturity or ripened up to a month quicker, producing a preponderance of small sizes on the market. From areas with unseasonal rain, burst fruit are not uncommon.
Moreover, Tuta absoluta, the tomato leafminer moth, still takes a sizeable bite out of class 1 tomatoes grown under both on land and under covered conditions, and there is currently no cure for it.
Rising tide lifts all boats
Medium-plus sizes in 6kg cartons are selling between R180 (8.8 euro) and R200 (9.8 euro) per unit, while one-kilogram bags have reached R32 (1.57 euro) – prices last experienced during Covid. Tomato producers have seen good market prices on their crop for the past three months but with the, high prices aren't a total offset for the reduced number of class 1 tomatoes available.
Some price records have been seen on first class tomatoes, while lower grades also achieved better levels than usual.