Vegetable prices around the world: where is it the cheapest to become a vegetarian?

Since 1977, World Vegetarian Day has been celebrated on October 1st, kick-starting Vegetarian Awareness Month. According to a global survey from 2018, 5% of the world’s population are vegetarians. Plant-based foods are becoming an important part of the diet for people who quit eating meat. In this study, Picodi.com analysts compared the prices of the most common vegetables in 98 countries.

We took a closer look at potatoes, tomatoes, onion and lettuce prices.

Among the 98 countries considered, the highest prices were noted in Japan, South Korea, Puerto Rico, and Switzerland. These countries were at the bottom of all the vegetable price rankings.

Tomato prices are very low in Egypt and India — under ₹30 and ₹35 per kilogram. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since these countries are the two largest producers of this red vegetable. In Japan, tomato lovers have to pay ₹438 per kilogram. Similar prices can be found in South Korea — ₹419/kg.

In the ranking of potato prices, India placed 7th with a price of ₹29 per kilogram. However, in Puerto Rico, South Korea and Japan the price is 9 times higher than in India (₹247, ₹260, and ₹267 per kilogram respectively).

In the ranking of onion prices, India placed 13th. One kilogram of this vegetable costs around ₹36 in this country. Turkey and Uzbekistan can boast even cheaper onions — ₹25 and ₹21 respectively.

The average price of lettuce in India is ₹39 per head (14th place). The lowest price of this vegetable was recorded in Uzbekistan (₹19/head), Egypt (₹21), and Nepal (₹23). On the other hand, Icelanders, Norwegians and Puerto Ricans pay the most for lettuce — around ₹190 per head.

Given the prices of these four vegetables, we have created a sample basket consisting of; 1 kg of tomatoes, 1 kg of potatoes, 1 kg of onion and a head of lettuce. The best price for such a basket can be found in Egypt and Pakistan (both ₹107), and Turkey (₹133). In India, this set would cost ₹39 (6th place out of 98). The Japanese and South Koreans would have to pay a lot more for it — more than ₹1000.

With such high prices, it is worth looking for bargains. Picodi offers cashback and discount codes in stores such as Swiggy, FreshToHome and EatSure, which will help you save money on your groceries.

Methodology

Vegetable prices come from numbeo.com, where data is collected from hundreds of thousands of internet users from around the world. Local currencies were converted into zlotys using the average exchange rate for the first half of September 2021, according to Google Finance. Vegetable production statistics were taken from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Public Use

All the data and infographics presented in this report can be freely used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us: research@picodi.com.