By Alexia Saoulli
THE CONSUMERS Association yesterday warned shoppers to use common sense when buying groceries in the face of soaring prices.
The price of tomatoes and cucumbers has increased drastically over the past few weeks due to recent bad weather conditions that have destroyed a number of crops, said Association President Petros Markou.
“Families should use common sense when budgeting their shopping list and not buy products that are priced too highly,” he said.
“I am not saying that they should boycott goods altogether, but consumers should be vigilant,” said Markou.
Because of bad weather conditions and low temperatures, a number of crops have been destroyed, he said. Greenhouses also claimed they were being forced to use more fuel to heat their products, which was why prices were rapidly inching upwards.
“Because there is a limited supply of tomatoes and cucumbers and an increase in consumer demand, particularly as we near Green Monday, they can do what they like as far as pricing is concerned,” he said.
Markou said farmers should organise themselves and market their own products as a way of bypassing middlemen who upped prices when selling them on to supermarkets and other retailers.
“Local markets are also cheaper than supermarkets if consumers want to buy cucumbers and tomatoes at better prices,” he suggested.
The Consumers Association had no quarrel with farmers, but said tomatoes and cucumbers should not be sold at such high prices with extreme fluctuations from one day to the next. “By creating a farmers’ marketing organisation these fluctuations will be tolerable and everybody will be much happier,” said Markou.
Tomatoes and cucumbers normally sell at between 50 and 80 cents a kilo. Over the past week, these prices have soared to £1.70-£2.20 a kilo, he said.
“Sometimes, prices are lower than the average and other times they are higher, but this is the first time they have hit such extreme highs,” Markou said.
The Commerce Ministry has said its hands are tied and there is nothing it can do to prevent soaring prices.
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