Tomatoes, a high-potassium veggie, is used in almost every daily food preparation across Pakistan.
DESPARDES — The government has allowed import of tomatoes from Iran to arrest the skyrocketing prices of the vegetable in local market.
The decision was taken at a meeting of importers with top officials of the Ministry of National Food Security (MNFS), Ministry of Commerce and other stakeholders, report local media.
According to Dawn, the government believes new crop of tomatoes and onion will reach the market in the next two to three weeks from Sindh. In the meanwhile, imports from Iran will help fill the gap, it said.
Prices of tomatoes — a kitchen staple across the country — have shot up across the region due to unexpected heavy rains last month.
The paper said tomato price shot up owing to a combination of ill-timed government policies besides bad weather, which caused disruption in the supply chain.
As per the latest figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the average maximum national price of tomatoes was Rs180 per kg, though it is selling at as high as Rs300 per kg in several parts of the country, the paper said.
DID YOU KNOW THAT
