After a difficult summer, the tomato market has now been revived. "It was awful", says Dirk van Nieuwkerk of Dutch fruit and vegetable wholesaler, Anaco Greeve. "The reason is known - we have never had such a hot summer. This weather made for top production and extremely low prices across the whole line. Elsewhere in Europe, it was more of the same. So, our Swedish clients had a lot of local product available."
Since then, the demand has shrunk, and the market has recovered rapidly. However, in Dirk's opinion, this price increase is also unhealthy. "We went from EUR1 to EUR8 for a crate of tomatoes in a very short time. In my opinion that is too high again. We, as traders, benefit from a stable market; then the momentum continues. Now, these prices are preventing sales again. I expect a price correction is unavoidable", he says.
"I do hope, especially for the growers' part, that we continue on a stable level for a little longer. This whole situation this summer has had a major impact on the farmers' financial situations. This cannot be easily compensated, let us not even talk about earning money", concludes the trader.