The sales of the tomato specialties hasn't been easy over the last few weeks. "Due to the extremely high temperatures in Morocco, but also in Spain, the production was far ahead. This lead to high production, but also quality problems within the entire snacking tomato segment," says Jean-Paul Nuijten of SpecialTom from Breda, which focusses on tomato specialties and has direct lines with growers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Morocco, Spain, Italy and Tunisia.
The trader has a joint venture with a large Moroccan cooperation under the name Marexport. The area of this cooperation has been extended this season by 40 hectares to 190 hectares. "The plants have now given a high production and there is little coloured product on the plant, which has revived the market. It will be another two or three weeks before the situation changes. We hope to be able to compensate for the bad weeks."
"The demand is very good at the moment, especially from the supermarkets, but there is also good demand for Moroccan snack tomatoes from Russia and this has certainly helped the price development. The local market is also good. This year we will continue the cultivation season into the summer with 16 hectares of Santa tomatoes, of course complimented with Dutch and Belgian tomatoes," continues Jean-Paul.
He is positive about the rest of the season. "The volumes from Spain are also scarce at the moment. The same goes for the Dutch cultivation under light. The prices of the Dutch vine tomatoes are at a reasonable level now, but in recent weeks it was difficult to work whilst covering costs. The only thing the tomato market can do is pull up more!"
