Tomatoes selling for 9 cents a kg in Hastings

Hastings Pak 'n Save store manager Julian Gibbs, left, and owner Brendon Smith have literally sold tonnes of tomatoes since the sale began. Photo / Thomas Airey

It was the best price seen in New Zealand for tomatoes in 10 years, and Hastings Pak 'n Save customers weren't going to miss out.

The supermarket sold about two tonnes of tomatoes on Wednesday morning alone, with 9 cents a kilogram prices drawing plenty of attention online.

Dozens of people could be seen leaving the supermarket around lunchtime with two big bags full of tomatoes each, including some who hadn't purchased anything else.

Store manager Julian Gibbs said Pak n'Save put a limit of 10 kilograms on individual purchases to be able to offer the one-day only sale of the four tonnes of tomatoes to as many customers as possible.

Tomatoes NZ general manager Helen Barnes said generally supermarket tomato prices only occasionally went below $2 a kilogram.

"I think the last time we heard of anything like that was about 10 years ago when we couldn't export to Australia because of a pest in the growing industry," she said

"They wouldn't be making any money at that price," she said.

She said prices had been good but there is an oversupply of stock towards the end of the season because of the lack of exports in the coronavirus crisis.

Rival Countdown had tomatoes advertised online around $3 a kilogram, and with the Hastings Pak 'n Save bargain around for just the one day, with limits on supply per customer, there wasn't expected to be any price war, the most notable of which happened when Countdown first appeared in Hawke's Bay more than 30 years ago, prior to the arrival of Pak 'n Save.

Countdown's offer on bread and packets of 10 sausages for about $1 at that time sparked an across-town frenzy that Napier paper and Hawke's Bay Today predecessor The Daily Telegraph dubbed "The Mother of all Bread Wars" - with supermarkets dropping the bread price to five cents a loaf and supplies barely baked and delivered before filling the trolleys heading back out the door.