{"id":377957,"date":"2026-04-13T21:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/377957\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:46:20","slug":"fresh-tomato-prices-have-skyrocketed-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/377957\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh tomato prices have skyrocketed. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New inflation data<\/a> shows that fresh tomatoes, the star ingredient in an array of dishes from salads to sandwiches, are skyrocketing in price.<\/p>\n

In the past year, prices have increased on an array of foods, with groceries up nearly 2% in March, compared to last year, and fruits and vegetables up 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Adobe Adobe Stock – PHOTO: Ripe tomatoes waiting to be picked. <\/p>\n

Tomatoes specifically are at a high point, with prices surging nearly 23% over this time last year, according to the agency.<\/p>\n

Fresh tomatoes currently cost an average of $2.26 per pound, the highest in eight years, BLS data shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One key factor behind the price hike is tariffs.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of fresh tomatoes consumed by Americans are imported from Mexico<\/a>, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tariffs<\/a> on Mexican imports remain steep, at 17%, and the U.S. imports more during the winter and spring.<\/p>\n

Prices could keep rising, since tomatoes are transported across the country on trucks that run on diesel fuel. Prices of diesel are quickly approaching an all-time high amid the conflict in Iran, closing in on the 2022 record of $5.80 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New inflation data shows that fresh tomatoes, the star ingredient in an array of dishes from salads to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[240,138,219,196904,111,139,69,196905],"class_list":["post-377957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bureau-of-labor-statistics","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-fresh-tomatoes","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ripe-tomatoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}