Tomato price in Karachi hits Rs 400 per kg, insists a bride to wear them as jewellery

The sky-rocketing price rise of onion has made us cry a lot in the past in India, but the price rise of tomatoes in Karachi has turned into a internet-breaking trend, where a bride recently wore tomato jewellery, as a protest against inflation. According to local agencies the price of tomato hit a record high in Karachi this week and reached Rs 400 per kilogram. In the first week of November, the official retail rate of tomato was Rs 117 per kg and ever since it has been increasing.

In a video shared by the resident journalist, the bride informed her family that she had been given three boxes full of the red and juicy tomatoes. As gold is expensive, and now even tomatoes are expensive, so she decided to wear tomatoes instead of jewellery. The images doing rounds on social reveals that she ditched the traditional jewellery and chose to wear a necklace, earrings and other ornamental items made out of tomatoes.

If reports are to be believed, the traders are selling tomatoes in a box, containing 13-14 kg of tomato which is available at Rs 4,200-4,500 depending on the quality.

Last week, the government had issued a permit for importing 4,500 tonnes of tomato from Iran. It seems that the arrival of those tomatoes has not made any difference and is yet to pick up pace in the market. The official statement released by the government stated that out of the 4,500 tonnes, only 989 tonnes of 3500 tonnes has arrived in the country so far.

According to local media agencies, this sudden price rise is a result of government’s restriction, where only a few traders are allowed to import tomatoes from the neighbouring market. As a result, the limited quantities are already booked and sold at the Taftan border.

The consumers are having a tough time as they are paying Rs 100 for a mere 250 grams tomatoes. The agitated consumers feel that the government needs to take immediate action to control the chaos. Also, experts feel that the government needs to keep a check on selling price of the Iranian tomato to curb profiteering by traders.