Veg prices drop but not in shops

resh produce prices have plummeted at the Durban Fresh Produce Market which indicates that farmers are selling some fruit and vegetables at lower prices despite the drought.

I noticed the price deflation last month when I bought fresh produce to share with friends – tomatoes for R5 a kg (R30 for a 6kg box), baby marrows for R9 a punnet (R90 for 10 punnets) and potatoes for R53 for a 10kg pocket – down from highs of R80 for tomatoes and R72 for potatoes a couple of months earlier.

A box of 10 lettuces set me back R28 and 10 cucumbers were R40.

But I noticed at the time the price of fruit and vegetables in supermarkets and shops had not seemed to drop as dramatically.

I decided to investigate last week and undertook spot price checks at three supermarkets at the Pavilion – Checkers Hyper, Woolworths and Pick n Pay – to find out what pricing was looking like on the shelves and to highlight how much consumers can save by buying in bulk at the fresh produce market.

I also asked supermarkets to comment on the findings, which showed their prices were markedly higher than the market. One of them – Pick n Pay – took umbrage and lambasted my survey as “inaccurate and misleading”, saying the basket was not representative and raising concerns about quality and traceability of vegetables.

Granted, it is tricky to compare prices when products come in different pack sizes, but I made note of those differences.

I have indicated these differences in the survey (see table).

And fresh produce sold at the market appears to be of equal quality or even better than supermarket offerings at times, in my view.

I often buy produce delivered to the market on the same day and market agents are able to tell me exactly where it was grown.

I still have in my fridge tomatoes, cabbage, baby marrow and cucumber that I bought on June 22.

It was surprising, given the drought and rising cost of farmers’ input costs, to find prices had plummeted even further last week – market agents put this down to supply and demand and the fact that it was the middle of the month.

Tomatoes had dropped to R3.33 a kilogram (20 for 6kg), potatoes to R3.80 a kilogram

Hanly market agent Johannes Du Plesssis showed me his huge stock of carrots selling at R6 for five kilograms, but explained that not all fresh produce was in oversupply as greens like spinach were “short”.

An anomaly was onions, which have remained expensive at R85 a 10kg pocket. Before the drought set in, it was possible to get a pocket for R28 about 20 months ago.

Du Plessis urged consumers to shop at the market, while other agents like Rory McAvoy of Delta remarked that there was a misconception that it was not open to housewives.

“We want the people to come here and buy at the market because the shop owners are asking ridiculous prices,” Du Plessis said.

Pietermaritzburg Agency savings on luxuries at supermarkets.

For more information about how to shop at the market and daily prices visit: http://bit. ly/2a13Eqq.