Tomatoes: in Tunisia, farm-gate price stays below 2,500 millimes as intermediaries push up shop prices
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on La Presse de Tunisie
Illustrative image · Engin Akyurt · Pexels · Licence PexelsThe price of a kilo of tomatoes in Tunisia has exceeded 6 dinars after summer heat and hail destroyed young plants and crops in basins such as Kasserine. Adel Antit, of the national chamber of tomato producers, says the farm-gate price does not exceed 2,500 millimes and attributes the rise to distribution intermediaries, according to Mosaïque FM.
The farm-gate selling price of tomatoes in Tunisia does not exceed 2,500 millimes per kilo, said Adel Antit, a member of the national chamber of tomato producers, speaking on Mosaïque FM on Friday. According to him, the rise in retail prices is explained by the structure of distribution circuits and the multiplication of intermediaries, and not by farmers.
Adel Antit called on households to adapt their purchase volumes and avoid panic behaviour in the face of the scarcity of supply. The tomatoes currently on offer are of fair to good quality, without matching the best harvests, the product remaining highly perishable and poorly suited to prolonged storage. The sector representative also sought to reassure on canned tomatoes: the fall in fresh harvest volumes will not affect the regularity of market supply.
The crisis stems first from the climate. The high summer temperatures destroyed young plants, and hail devastated crops in key agricultural basins, particularly in Kasserine governorate.
This explanation comes two days after a kilo of tomatoes was found to be selling at six dinars in Tunisia, in a context of high temperatures and bad weather that had already hit crops. The same tension affects neighbouring Algeria, where the kilo reached 280 dinars on 4 November.
