Tomatoes, spinach, and peppers are at least 20% more expensive due to frost in Limpopo, South Africa

Prices for tomatoes, spinach, and peppers, have surged at least 20% in just one week due to frost in the Limpopo region that has caused severe damage to crops. Last week, volumes of spinach and peppers delivered to fresh produce markets declined. This resulted in prices shooting up, Johnny van der Merwe, managing director of agricultural information group Agrimark Trends (AMT), said in his weekly video that tracks market prices for fresh produce. During the past few weeks, Limpopo saw extreme instances of frost, which caused damage to crops including spinach, tomatoes, and peppers. Spinach was the worst affected vegetable among those tracked by AMT over the past week, with the price rocketing 27% to R5.13 per kilogram. The price of tomatoes, which had begun to stabilise from recent highs caused by excessive rainfall that damaged crops earlier this year, shot up by more than 20% week on week. It’s still much lower than it was in April when it reached R19.52 per kilogram. “The ...