Market prices for the two commodities have seen a massive spike due to severe rainfall in major production regions over the past few months. Johnny van der Merwe, Managing Director of agricultural information group Agrimark Trends, explains that the price of tomatoes spiked 21% to R5,40/kg in just one week.
"The latest tomato price increase was due to a 19% decrease in supply levels," Van der Merwe says. "If we continue to have a wetter climate, tomato prices can see significant support again next year.
When we look into the latest price movements in the vegetable industry, we see the potato prices increasing by 39%, as was expected last week, to R41,29 per 10kg bag. This is mostly due to higher rainfall and lower volumes available on the markets."