“Saturated” French tomato market

The Agence Laparra team has just returned from Almeria, where it met with partner producers to discuss the success of the last season.” Despite this positive momentum, Eric Godard Durand, president of Agence Laparra, warns that the new tomato season will “once again bring new challenges.”

The French market is saturated
While Spanish tomatoes are currently sold locally and in Italy, the first Spanish products have been appearing for a few weeks on an already “saturated” French market. Spanish volumes are set to accelerate over the next few days. Today, the demand is modest, and the last standard-quality French tomatoes from the greenhouse production are still present in large quantities. Additionally, Belgian and Dutch tomatoes are also sold on the French market. Concerns for the coming campaign are therefore related to prices. “The expected average prices could be lower than last year due to the intense competition from several origins on the French market.”

Towards tomato overproduction?
The delay in production in Spain due to late planting and this summer’s heatwave “is likely to result in large arrivals of tomatoes over the next 2 to 3 weeks.” The cultivated surface area “remains similar to last year,” but the final production volumes could be affected by “a persistent virus that blackens tomatoes and makes them unsaleable. This virus is difficult to detect, as it only becomes visible when the tomatoes ripen.”

Eric Godard Durand remains cautious, as “other factors and events may yet reshuffle the cards.”