In Belgium, tomatoes prices have halved since a week ago. Last Friday, the price was still at around €1. By Wednesday, this had fallen to €0.50. Prices have fallen hard for both loose tomatoes and TOV.
"Last month's hot weather caused a sudden surge in supply to the market. This has depressed prices," says Mr Akarca of Elite Foods. "This year, we still, however, have much better prices for tomatoes than last year. This includes the Elite tomatoes for which our company is known. We are pleased with the higher prices. Both the grower and the trader can earn a little from these."
Mr. Akarca with some Elite tomatoes
“Until two weeks ago, there were no problems with the tomatoes' quality. But we hit a bit of a dip because of the hot weather. That is now, fortunately, over again," says Akarca.
“We have had a very good summer period. It was actually the best we have had in years. We see sales increase every year. We are also positive about the coming months.
There is an increasing demand for not only greenhouse vegetables. This year we also sold a lot of strawberries. At the moment, things are calm regarding strawberries. A lot of countries have local produce. They are, therefore, a little cheaper than before. We can, however, be satisfied with the recent period."
The greenhouse vegetable season is slowly coming to an end. There will still be ample TOV supply for the next ten days. After that, Akarca is expecting somewhat less volume on the market.
"By the end of the year, we work with Spanish and Turkish products. But some of our clients prefer Belgian products. We then offer produce from our lit cultivation. However, we have noticed that many clients consider the price first. They give preference to less expensive products," continues the trader.
“At Elite Foods, we have both Dutch and Belgian products. Our range, as well as our client base, grows every year. We do, however, try to limit the expansion of our assortment. We want to be able to focus on those products we are good at. We also want to retain control over the products' quality," concludes Akarca.
For more information:
Elite Foods
50 Kempenare Street
2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, BE
Tel: +32 (0) 15 63 37 46
info@elitefoods.be
www.elitefoods.be