Indian expat in Dubai flies home with 10kg tomatoes amid souring prices

New Delhi: A Dubai expat has flown to India with 10 kilograms of tomatoes in her suitcase to fulfill her mother’s wish.

As tomatoes are considered highly valuable these days in the country amid their surging prices, the woman who was coming home to India for holidays brought them as requested by her mother.

Sharing the anecdote, the expat's sister, who goes by the name Revs on Twitter, wrote: “My sister is coming to India from Dubai for her children's summer holidays, and she asked my mum if she wanted anything from Dubai and my mother said to bring 10 kilos of tomatoes. And so now she has packed 10 kg tomatoes in a suitcase and sent it.

With 53.2k views at present, the amusing story has gone viral on Twitter with many asking the user questions on storage and customs rules.

On being asked by another user about the shelf life of tomatoes, usually a week, Revs said the 10 kg package would be made into pickles and chutneys, among other things, adding that as a family, they use a “ridiculous amount” of tomatoes for consumption.

Tomato prices have risen in recent weeks, rising from an average of Rs 20 per kg to as much as Rs 250 per kg in parts of the country.

Customs officials recently released three tonnes of tomatoes that were being smuggled into India from Nepal.

Tomatoes cost around Rs 100 to Rs 110 in Nepali currency, which is Rs 62-69 in India.

According to reports, delayed monsoons, high temperatures, and low production might be behind the increase in prices of tomatoes recently.

Heavy rains have also contributed to the significant spike in prices.

With inputs from IANS