The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday that prices of tomatoes in local markets are seen to fall this week due to some farmers have started harvesting.

Tomatoes are currently sold for P140 to P220, while their prevailing price is P180,  according to DA spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa. 

"This is P20 higher than last week's P160. Last month it was P80,” he said.

“The good news here, again, as I mentioned, is that the southern Tagalog region has started harvesting now, and we can expect the price of tomatoes to gradually decrease in the coming days,” he added.

Slim price increases 

Meanwhile, De Mesa said the prices of some lowland vegetables had recorded a slight increase.

"If [prices] increase, it's only slim; there's almost no [change]," he said, citing as an example pechay Tagalog’s current price of P80, which was P150 last month, and bittergourd’s (ampalaya) current price of P120 from last month's P140.  

"The string bean (sitao) prices are as they were last week and last month. [T]he squash is just as-is, P70 last month, last week, and now. Eggplant, P100 last month, P80 last week, P100 now.”

For highland vegetables,  De Mesa said carrots are presently sold at P120, which was P140 the previous week. He noted, “P180 is the highest. But its prevailing price is P120 at the moment.”

“[The] cabbage (repolyo) is consistent at P80. [T]he big increase is in Baguio beans, from P120 to P140,” he added.

He said prices of vegetables vary due to various factors, including changes in weather and price increases in petroleum.

"When the source is far, such as Benguet, Baguio, or Southern Tagalog, there are additional expenses when gasoline is expensive. The increases are big, from P1  to P2 pesos. That would also be the reason for the increase,” De Mesa said.