At the moment, the tomato wholesale market is passing from the open field productions of Campania, Basilicata and Puglia, to greenhouse production from Sicily. The quality of the former is now lower because it is the end of the season, while there is a slight delay for the latter as producers postponed transplants to avoid overlaps.
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"This is the reason behind the huge difference in prices registered at the moment. The price of produce from Sicily is rather high, while that of open-field produce is rather low as quality is not very good," reports Eurofruit, wholesaler in Bologna.
The prices of cherry tomatoes hovers between €1/kg for open-field produce, to €2-2.50/kg for Sicilian greenhouse produce. The same goes for plum tomatoes, as greenhouse produce reaches €2.50-3/kg.
Sicilian volumes of bunch tomatoes are low too, so prices are €1.20-1.30/kg. The price of Dutch bunch tomatoes is only slightly higher, while the greenhouse Polish season is ending, so quotations are 10-15 eurocent/kg lower than the Sicilian produce.
"Even though the effect was less noticeable on our market, Poland shipped a lot of bunch tomatoes to European markets in September and October. Quality was good, often similar to that of the Dutch produce, and prices were competitive."