Toma-too expensive? Price still not so ripe for humble fruit

WITH tomato prices still on the rise, shoppers are beginning to ask the question - is the humble tomato becoming the new banana?

Tomato prices

WITH tomato prices still soaring as high as $13.99 per kg - more than double their price from last season - shoppers are beginning to fear that the tomato may soon be heading into banana territory.

 The juicy staple food usually costs around $4 a kilo but cold and wet conditions in North Queensland over winter, particularly in growing regions of Bundaberg and Bowen, are being blamed for prices nudging the $15 mark.

Competitors Coles and Woolworths have been charging between $8 and $12 per kg over the past two weeks, according to their websites.

Growers are promising that, while the price spike has lasted much longer than it should have, we will start to see a significant drop soon as growing conditions improve and supplies ripen with the warmer weather.

"What goes up, must come down", a representative from Harris Farm Markets told news.com.au.

But today, months after their initial rise, news.com.au wasn't able to purchase a kilo of tomatoes for less than $8.98.

Tomato prices

Could the humble tomato be heading down a similar path to the post-Cyclone Yasi banana as a luxury trolley item? Or are the prices likely to drop back down in time for everyone’s garden salads this summer?

Meteorologist Dick Whitaker from the Weather Channel says above average temperatures are predicted for the next few months in Northern Queensland so shoppers will be holding their breaths for the usually cheap, anonymous fruit to fall back out of the spotlight.