In Tunisia the reference price for tomatoes destined to be processed in 2015 will be 147 MiliMs/kilo. This decision was reached on the 18th December following negotiations, sometimes tense, between workers represented by the UTAP (Tunisian Agriculture and Fishing Union) and the UTICA (Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce and Artisan).
The UTAP had called on producers to boycott tomato farming due to prices practised in 2014 that were 13% lower than decided. Both parties agreed on the necessity to restructure the tomato sector in order to improve the country’s production.
How the public will react to this price modification remains to be seen. The ODC (Consumer Defence Organisation) had also incited the public to boycott tinned tomatoes due to the repetitive price increases.