NEW YORK (AP) — Tomatoes, a staple ingredient in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, have taken on a new role beyond the plate: a nagging reminder of rising costs. Prices for these red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year, cementing their place as one of the consumer headaches du jour.
The Symbol of Deeper Issues
“The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper,” says Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef who lamented life’s “simplest pleasures” falling victim to price increases. “Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families.”
According to the latest Consumer Price Index, tomato prices are up about 40% over a year ago, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5%), beef roasts (up 17.8%), and frozen fish and seafood (up 12%). These products have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze. A separate inflation gauge released Thursday showed that overall prices increased 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in nearly three years.
Reasons Behind the Spike
Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meanwhile, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America’s supply.
Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist, calls it “a perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy.” American tomato farmers cheered the withdrawal from the tomato deal last July, saying it would help rebuild their shrinking industry. But for consumers, it’s been painful. Though the U.S. withdrew from the Mexico tomato deal in July, it took time to see the impact in the produce aisle, with more imports arriving in late winter and early spring.
When the tomatoes arrived, they were slapped with a 17% tariff. “Tariffs are undeniably a big driver of the price inflation,” says Brett Massimino, a Virginia Commonwealth University business professor. “Because the U.S. relies on Mexico for the majority of its tomato supply, any changes in trade policy can have a large impact.” U.S. tariffs collected on tomatoes ballooned from just $16,424 in 2024 to nearly $4.6 million, a staggering 27,879% increase.
Impact on Consumers and Businesses
As the cost trickles down, outraged shoppers have pulled out their phones in the produce aisle, shooting videos lamenting costs they said quadrupled, with some vowing to plant a garden to avoid prices of up to $8 a pound. But the impact has been most pronounced for businesses that rely on tomatoes as a key ingredient in their kitchens.
MarginEdge, which tracks prices for restaurants, says grape tomatoes have increased most — 65% in just a month — but prices have gone up across all types of tomatoes. Phillip Coles, a professor of supply chain management at Lehigh University, says prices should drop later in the year when domestically grown tomatoes are harvested. Higher prices, he says, will also “induce farmers to increase planting to meet the demand, but this takes longer because of the lead time.”
In the meantime, it’s translating to a big hit for businesses like Snarf’s Sandwiches, which puts a tomato in nearly every sandwich it makes. Wayne Humphrey, chief operating officer of Snarf’s, which operates dozens of stores in Colorado, Missouri and Texas, said cases of tomatoes went from costing him $27 to $93 in the space of a year, piled on top of rising expenses for other ingredients including bread and beef, as well as increased labor costs. “That single ingredient now costs us more than $1.7 million in additional spend annually,” says Humphrey. “The math is getting harder to ignore.”
___ Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.
