MIRPURKHAS: A small but fast-growing woman-led food company in southern Pakistan is using a simple, low-cost production method to turn tomatoes into powder, a product its founder says could cut costs for major food companies by as much as 50 percent while helping stabilize prices for consumers.

The business operates without electricity-driven drying machines, relying instead on manual labor and natural sunlight to dry tomatoes during periods of oversupply, when prices collapse and farmers are forced to discard produce.

The company, Red Royal Foods (RRF), is based in Jhuddo village in Sindh’s Mirpurkhas district and produces organic powder from ripe tomatoes that are sliced by hand, sun-dried over several days and treated with sea salt, without the use of artificial preservatives, additives or machines.

Founded and led by 24-year-old Zainab Munawar, RRF has grown from a small local operation into a supplier serving markets in Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad. Munawar now aims to sell her product to large local and international food brands operating in Pakistan’s major cities.

“Our target is to do business with National and Shan [Foods],” Munawar, nicknamed Nainsukh, told Arab News while standing inside her factory, which she recently acquired from a wedding lawn owner.

“We also target to collaborate with the brands on an international level like McDonald’s and Kababjees which are very much in demand right now in Pakistan,” she added.

McDonald’s is a major US multinational fast-food chain, while Kababjees is a Pakistani restaurant brand that has expanded beyond traditional barbecue into fried chicken and pizza.

Food manufacturers in Pakistan have been under pressure from rising input costs, driven by higher energy prices, climate-related disruptions to agricultural supply chains and inflation. Corporate taxes can also reach 40 percent, further squeezing margins for those in the business.

Munawar, who holds a master’s degree in medical physics, said RRF’s appeal lies in its ability to sharply reduce production costs by eliminating electricity and heavy machinery from the drying process.

“Ours is a manual technique in which you don’t have to add the electricity and machinery costs and that’s why the rates we offer are 50 percent cheaper than the market,” she added.

Tomatoes, a staple ingredient in Pakistani cooking and food processing, have become a symbol of food inflation in recent years, with prices swinging sharply between periods of glut and shortage.

“We have a time when tomato sales are very high like currently. We are receiving tomatoes at Rs7 per kilogram as these are high in supply and people are even throwing them,” she explained. “We buy tomatoes these days, make powder out of it and preserve it.”

When supplies tighten, prices can soar.

“Then there is a time when tomatoes go short in supply and are retailed at a price as high as Rs400 per kilogram,” she said.

“We then sell our tomato powder at the same price,” she added, referring to Rs100 per 80-gram packet.

For consumers, the powder has become a practical hedge against price volatility.

Inflation stood at 6.1 percent in November, with core inflation described by the State Bank of Pakistan as “relatively sticky.”

Ganga, a 45-year-old RRF worker who lives with her brothers, said the product has changed how households cope with seasonal shortages.

“In the off season, the tomato prices become so high that you can’t even buy a kilogram of it,” she said.

“Then we buy a packet of this tomato powder for Rs100 which lasts for four to five days.”

RRF’s production process is deliberately simple. Tomatoes are sliced by hand, dried in open spaces under the sun for four to six days depending on sunlight intensity and then ground using basic household-type machines.

The initiative received support after the devastating floods of 2022, which destroyed crops and livelihoods across southern Sindh.

Mahdi Hassan, a livelihood officer at the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), said RRF was backed through post-flood recovery programs implemented with Germany’s Malteser International.

“After the floods of 2022, there was a lot of destruction in Jhuddo because of which people’s livelihoods were greatly affected,” he said, adding that SRSO had supported around 24 similar initiatives in the area, mostly led by women, with about Rs30 million ($107,000) in funding.

Beyond livelihoods, RRF is also trying to reduce Pakistan’s reliance on imported food products.

“No company is producing this dried-tomato powder in Pakistan yet,” said Ahsan Khan, the company’s technical supervisor.

“What is available in the market is being imported ... We are trying to manufacture this dried tomato powder locally and give competitive rates to our buyers.”

During peak seasons, RRF sells up to four tons of tomato powder per month. Munawar said she expects that volume to rise, noting that entry into Karachi’s large food market could significantly boost revenues from last year’s Rs650,000 ($2,319).

“Last year we were in collaboration with Al-Noor Foods while now we have sent requests [business proposals] to National Foods and Shan Foods, who will become our customers after approving those requests,” she said.
RRF has also sent proposals to international brands such as McDonald’s.

“We would be targeting to double, triple our revenues this year if we get approvals from these brands,” she added.