Why has the price of tinned tomatoes rocketed?

[Mortartube]

Not so long ago a tin of the cheapest supermarket own brand tomatoes was about 17p, now they are about 33p.

Is this just seasonal fluctuations in price or a poor harvest or just greed?

[cab]

I dont know but the same as happened to the baked beans, I thought they had made a mistake

[pastafreak]

I started to notice price rises in a lot of things,just before Christmas....some increases are as much as 25%......;-(

[pastafreak]

ooops....... ;-(
is that better folks???

[mrs.chappie]

I've noticed that too, Mortartube - the price has nearly doubled!

[:o(

[Buenchico]

The tomatoes which end up in tins are usually imported. The rapid fall in the value of the pound means that imports from Europe now cost about 50% more than they did a short while ago. Imports from elsewhere in the world are usually paid for in US dollars. Those imports will cost about about 30% more than a short while ago.

The price fluctuations of tomato-based products seem to be rather short-term. For example, all of the big supermarkets used to sell their 'value' pasta sauce at 24p per jar. Just before Christmas they all put their prices up to 36p per jar. Now it's back down to 24p per jar.

Chris

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks for that, Chris.

[Mortartube]

Thanks everybody. I assume that many of the tomatoes are of Italian origin, so the Pound to Euro exchange rate makes sense.

[filthiestfis]

I reckon that its more to do with a huge increase in demand for value products by consumers which has made the price go up. The supermarkets know that more people are switching to their value brands so they are increasing these prices to make the profit they would otherwise lose.

[Ice.Maiden]

Heinz spagetti and sausages in Morrisons - large tin, because my boys love it! - down to 49p, which's about half the usual price. Mind you, that's all they're worth.

[heathfield]

The problem is that the price of tomatoes shot up before the value of the pound fell against the euro. So what's the reason for it? A couple of years ago we had the same thing due to a very poor harvest in Italy. This was widely advertised by the supermarkets. This time - silence.
Same with butter. Why did it suddenly cost 25% more last autumn? Supposedly it was farmers having to pay lots more for grain to feed their dairy herds. So why did Anchor butter go up by a similar amount when the packaging clearly states, ''Fed on grass the whole year round''!
Sometimes I think supermarkets just pluck prices out of thin air.
Then there's the ridiculous situation where one can of Napolina tomatoes cost 98p, while on the same shelf you could get 2 x four-packs for �1.96. (Tesco).
Price comparison shopping is the only answer.

[filthiestfis]

heathfield (are you a cross between garfield and heathcliff I wonder?) - see my answer. I am only assuming things though.