Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Prices for greenhouse tomatoes continue to break records - over the past week, the average wholesale price for a red round tomato has increased by 29% and current wholesale prices are almost 2 times higher than last year’s levels. Moreover, as a result of a sharp increase in prices for these products over the past week, the current wholesale prices for red round tomato in Uzbekistan turned out to be the highest in the EastFruit region, project analysts say.

According to EastFruit price monitoring, from 17 to 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for a red round greenhouse tomato in Uzbekistan increased from 28,000 to 36,000 sum/kg (from US$2.45 to US$3.16), i.e. by 28.6% in one week. Given the rapid growth in these products over the past three months, from the beginning of this year to 24 March, wholesale prices for red round tomato in Uzbekistan increased by 2.4 times.

As of 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for a red round greenhouse tomato in Uzbekistan was 1.8 times higher than on the same date last year and 2.4 times higher than on the same date in 2020-2021.

As a result of a sharp increase in prices for red round tomato over the past week, wholesale prices for these products in Uzbekistan turned out to be the highest among the countries where EastFruit monitors fruits and vegetables weekly. As of 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for a red round greenhouse tomato in the countries of the region was (in US dollars per 1 kg): Uzbekistan - US$3.16; Poland - US$2.79; Ukraine - US$2.60; Tajikistan - US$2.29; Moldova - US$1.61; Georgia - US$1.16.

In mid-March 2023, EastFruit wrote that the main reason for the rapid rise in tomato prices in Uzbekistan is the huge crop losses in greenhouses during the January abnormal cold. Moreover, taking into account the growing season of this crop, market participants considered it unlikely that prices for this product would decrease in the near future.

Over the past week, prices for pink greenhouse tomatoes also rose, but the growth rate was much less than for red round greenhouse tomatoes. From 17 to 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for a pink greenhouse tomato in Uzbekistan increased from 33,000 to 36,000 sum/kg (from US$2.89 to US$3.16), i.e. by 9.1%. Given the steady increase in prices for these products over the past month and a half, from 10 February to 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for pink greenhouse tomatoes in Uzbekistan increased by 1.8 times.

As of 24 March 2023, the average wholesale price for these products was 1.8 times higher than the same date last year and 2.1 times higher than the same date in 2021.