Due to the country's shortage of processing tomato, imports of tomato paste or raw tomato pulp were approved so as to meet the demand required by the multinational Nestle SA from Panamanian producers.
Just like onion production, tomato production is going through a difficult situation that has been attributed to the neglect of the agricultural sector and the impact of weather conditions; factors that have led a decrease in the harvest.
The country will import processing tomatoes from the last week of June until December 31, 2016.
This is the second consecutive year that Panama has had to import raw tomato pasta or tomato pulp as raw material due to shortages of this category.
Panama's tomato is the raw material for the production of pasta and sauces. In recent years, the production of many producers from Los Santos de Maimona has left them with economic losses.
Producers plant their seeds in December, and the harvest goes from March until the first half of April. The costs of cultivating a hectare range between 8,000 and 10,000 dollars.
From 1970 to 1980 there were more than 600 producers of tomato. Between 1980 and 1990 this number decreased to a little over 400. For this year's harvest there were only 112 producers.
Panama has the only plant in Central America that transforms tomatoes into sauces and pastes for national consumption and for Costa Rica.
A quintal of tomatoes costs 9 dollars and 50 cents, about 10 cents per pound.
Marketers have pointed out that local production is good; however, the sector requires more support from the private and public sectors in order to improve its production.
Source: panamaamerica.com.pa