The current market in Poland has shown growth in the demand for locally produced tomatoes, which are fetching good prices on the domestic market.
Citronex is currently supplying to the Polish market, but they expect to start the export of vine tomatoes, plum and cherry tomatoes by the first week of May.
Pink beef tomatoes, mini cucumbers and tomatoes on the vine are still the strongest products they have available on the Polish market. Most of the demand in Poland is for larger tomatoes such as the beef tomato and plum tomatoes weighing around 140-150grams each, but they also produce cherry tomatoes on the vine.
Darius Malak, in charge of production at PPO Siechnice, belonging to the Citronex Group, said that it was the first year that they will offer the Marola variety from Rijk Zwaan. He said that the company had chosen this particular variety to solve the quality issue they have experienced in the past with plum tomatoes during the summer. The Marola is a large plum tomato (80-100 g) for truss harvest known for excellent fruit quality and a long shelf-life.
Production in Poland has been down this year due to lack of sunlight. The lack of sunlight is causing the plants to grow slower compared to last year, with 20% reduced sunlight over the course of the year and with up to 15-30% in February alone. Despite these bad conditions, Citronex said that the quality was not affected.
Tomatoes are in good demand and as a result, greenhouses in Siechnice saw an expansion of 16 hectares this year, bringing the total hectares to 38. With 50 hectares across two locations (PPO Siechnice and Polskie Pomidory S.A.), Citronex has positioned itself as one of the largest tomato producers in Europe and is in a good position to expand their markets further into Western Europe.
