Tomatoes have become more expensive than chicken in Karachi, with retail prices surging to between Rs. 450 and Rs. 550 per kilogramme, a new record for the city’s markets.
In comparison, chicken meat is selling for around Rs. 450 per kg, making tomatoes the pricier item on dinner tables.
The official price list sets the rate for tomatoes at Rs. 280 per kg, but neither retailers nor vendors in Sunday bachat bazaars are following government rates. Shopkeepers say wholesale prices have spiked so sharply that selling at the official rate would mean incurring losses.
Vegetable dealers blame the price hike on limited supplies from Punjab, where floods have disrupted production, and a delay in Sindh’s local crop reaching the market. At present, about 90 percent of Karachi’s tomato demand is being met through imports from Iran, while imports from Afghanistan remain suspended, further tightening supply and pushing prices higher.
Shoppers hoping for relief in bachat bazaars were disappointed to find tomatoes selling well above the official rate even there. A stallholder in Gulshan-e-Iqbal said, “There’s no official rate enforced at the wholesale level. If we sell at Rs. 280, we’ll face losses.”
Bazaar management claimed that stalls violating official rates were sealed or fined, but citizens complained that no real relief was visible on the ground.