Before the Spring Festival, the price of tomatoes will still remain high. What is the reason behind the "skyrocketing value"?

Data from the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shows that from January 1st to 16th this year, the average wholesale price of tomatoes was 8.61 yuan per kilogram, an 80.9% increase compared to 4.76 yuan per kilogram in January 2025. What are the reasons for the current fluctuations in tomato prices? What is the future price trend? When can the price of tomatoes drop back down? The town of Luhu in Gaoqing County, Zibo City, Shandong Province, has planted over 1000 acres of greenhouse tomatoes, which are currently being concentrated for sale at a field purchase price of around 5 yuan per jin. Li Xincun, the person in charge of the Xincun Vegetable Farmers Professional Cooperative in Gaoqing County, said that the high price of tomatoes this year is mainly due to the dramatic decrease in yield of 30% to 40%, caused by continuous rainy weather during the sowing season in October 2025. Shouguang, Weifang, Shandong is the largest facility vegetable production base in the country. Sui Lidong, a member of the Party group of the Shouguang Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that the wholesale price of Shouguang tomatoes peaked in mid-December 2025 and has now dropped slightly. Liu Tong, manager of the Statistics Department of the Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market, said that compared to the previous period, the current supply of tomatoes at Xinfadi is slightly better. Liu said that in the winter, about half of the tomatoes in Xinfadi come from Panzhihua, Sichuan, but the tomatoes in Panzhihua are damaged due to weather conditions.