Pakistan: Tomato price disparities expose supply chain flaws

Huge disparities in tomato prices have laid bare the mismanagement of the supply chain as well as distortion in rate fixation by the Pakistani authorities. The difference in tomato prices in the two biggest producer and consumer provinces is huge. At one hand, growers in Sindh are selling tomato at throwaway price of Rs5-10 per kg, consumers on the other are buying it at Rs60-80 per kg in the urban centres of Punjab. The downward trend in the prices of tomatoes has been obvious in Sindh province since early January. At that point of time, the official rate of tomatoes set by the district administration in Lahore was ...