Pushing his way through the crowd as he made his way from one auction stand to another, Rehmat Gul was happy at the bargain he finally stuck for the purchase of 20 crates of mid quality tomatoes. Gul had not hoped to find the right price so quickly. On Wednesday just days before Eid, the prices of tomatoes had already begun moving up.

This was not unusual. In fact, it is routine for tomato prices to witness a sudden jump during the last days of Ramazan – and this year was no different.