Tariffs and the bitterly escalating prices of bitter melon

A common vegetable in our kitchen is bitter melon. A member of the gourd family, bitter melon is a tropical and semi-tropical plant food popular in many Asian cuisines.

My wife uses bitter melon in various Filipino dishes, while I juice it for its purported health benefits. Bitter melon is thought to maintain and even lower blood sugar.

Given its cultivation in warm climates, bitter melon is available in most Asian grocery stores thanks to imports from Mexico. Locally grown during Northern California's prime growing season, it is widely available at farmers' markets.

Wanting to restock our supply, we visited a local Asian grocery store to find it was available with a label that said it was grown in Mexico. Last week, it was $5/lb. and it is now $6.99/lb.

In the past - before the threat and implementation of tariffs on Mexican imports - during the months when locally grown bitter melon was unavailable, prices ranged from $3 to $4 a pound.

At the grocery store, the clerk told us customers have noticed the rapidly escalating prices of all the vegetables and fruit imported from Mexico. She added that some customers have expressed anger about the price increases.

Given the steep price increase, we decided not to buy any. We reasoned that maybe the tariffs would be rescinded - how many times have we seen this already - so prices might come down in the next few weeks.

Furthermore, locally grown bitter melon will be available in a few months so that we can defer our purchases. After all, in the last few years, bitter melon was available at Elk Grove's Saturday farmers market for about two or three dollars a pound.

But will we experience these prices at our local farmers' market this year?
 
Local farmers typically fertilize crops, and a primary ingredient is Canadian potash, the world's largest producer. If local farmers pay higher prices for fertilizer, among other products they use to grow their produce, will they eat - pun intended - the higher price or pass along their increased cost to their customers?

Economic theory and practice say the local farmers will pass along any price increase they experience. So when locally grown bitter melon comes to market in the next few months, it will also be priced higher than over the last few years.

Bitter melon price increases are one example of what we can expect if the tariffs remain in effect - that is the bitter reality of the Trump tariffs.