DAMMAM: Traders expect the prices of tomatoes and other vegetables to rise for at least four weeks because of limited imports and reduced local production. A kilogram of tomatoes now costs SR12 and rising, compared to SR4 before Ramadan. Prices should gradually decrease as produce grown in the Kingdom reaches local markets in early November, they said. Fruit and vegetable traders in the Eastern Province attributed the recent rise in tomato prices to a 50 percent drop in imports two months ago. They pointed out that high summer temperatures hurt tomato plants and reduced harvests, at a time of increasing demand. Malik Al-Faraj, a trader, said harvests in Turkey, Syria and Jordan, which provide the bulk of imports by the Kingdom, started decreasing as the end of the agricultural season drew near. Consumption in those countries also contributed to the drop in exports to the Kingdom, he noted. “This reached a point where only about 20 trucks arrived in the Kingdom a day,” said Al-Faraj. “That is insufficient to meet the increasing demand.” Al-Faraj pointed out that prices are also rising in exporting countries. Prices have ranged between SR5 and SR6 a kilogram in Turkey and Jordan, and SR3 to SR4 a kilogram in Syria. He said importers pay SR16 to SR17 for a two-kilogram carton and SR25 to SR26 for four-kilogram cartons, which explains why retail prices have soared to between SR30 and SR35. The beginning of the academic year, the end of the summer season and the return of citizens and expatriates to the Kingdom are other factors that have boosted tomato prices. This has created further reason for traders to hike prices in the coming days, said Al-Faraj. He pointed out that the price stability during the holy month of Ramadan was due to the availability of large quantities on the market during the exporting countries' agricultural season. Abdul Majeed, a vegetable importer in Dammam, also blamed the limited tomato supply on erratic imports and poor local production, and said that prices would keep rising. According to Musthafa, a vegetable wholesaler in Al-Khobar, most truck drivers who transported fresh vegetables and fruit from countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, took leave during Eid holidays. This affected the import of vegetables. He expects an improvement in about two weeks. “The prices will stabilize only when supplies resume at full scale from Syria and Jordan, which are the largest exporters of tomatoes to the Kingdom,” said a trader at the Dammam vegetable wholesale market. Boofiya owners and most restaurants in the Eastern Province have removed tomatoes from their sandwiches and vegetable salads. Sunil Kumar, who runs a boofiya near Dammam Port Road, said that if he charges SR3 for a sandwich with tomatoes, customers will not buy it. He has now removed tomatoes from his sandwiches.
