Africa Edition
Last week, the consumption of tomatoes was impacted by the gloomy social climate in France and the winter weather. But sales should increase this week. “Warm spring days are expected all over France, with temperatures near 15 degrees in some places. Such nice weather is favorable for tomato consumption,” explains Guilhem Flammen, director of Greenery France.
Cluster tomatoes
The first volumes of the new French tomato harvest arrived on the market almost two weeks ago. “We are ahead of our Belgian and Dutch neighbors, and we feel that the French origin is more and more popular. Retailers have been expanding their French tomato range at the expense of imported tomatoes (Spain and Morocco), and they are opening lines of cluster tomatoes as well.”
Flesh tomatoes
The arrival on the market of the first French volumes last week was accompanied by a drop in prices. However, tomatoes are still sold at relatively high prices. “All the French producers are beginning to have more volumes. This has resulted in a drop in prices, which were at record levels before that. Today, they remain high but are more reasonable, which will also have a beneficial impact on sales in the stores. As for the quality at the beginning of this season, we are very satisfied. We have two visually very attractive tomato varieties: the fleshy tomato that will arrive next week and the cluster tomato whose volumes will intensify from week 13/14.”
For more information:
Guilhem Flammen
Greenery France
g.flammen@thegreenery.com
