The South African school year starts in early January, so school uniforms and stationery are what South Africans are spending their money on, and consequently this is always a very difficult time of the year for tomato sales.
Last year this time a tomato shortage developed as a result of heavy rains which reduced availability, and while currently the tomato market looks very different this year, AMT Trends this week postulated a possible sharp increase in tomato prices in the near future, again as a result of rain and hail damage.
Currently the tomato market is full, but there’s little buying power (an agent at the Johannesburg market says that cocktail markets are barely moving), putting prices under pressure.
The average price has been trending downwards to between R7 (0.38 euro) and R9 (0.49 euro) per kilogram. Last year it climbed as high as R12 (0.67 euro) per kilogram at the start of the year.
"There has been a dramatic increase in tomato supply after last year’s shortage and the consequent high prices. Therefore, guys were planting extra tomatoes for what they perceived would be a short market - and now it’s turned the other way,” says a tomato trader. “The guys that have planted more are going to be in a bit of trouble.”
Loadshedding is a bitter pill to swallow for everyone in the chain.
Growers struggle to complete their irrigation schedules and diesel generator costs run to many thousands of additional expenditure at a time of general price inflation across the board.
