Almeria's vegetable prices ended in 2023 following the same growing trend that has been recorded since the end of November. Tomato prices experienced a small drop because, according to Julián Rodríguez García, a farmer from La Cañada, there wasn't enough transport available to get the product out on the days of Christmas. However, despite a slight decrease in its price, in week 51, branch tomato and pear tomato prices increased by up to 200% and 82%, respectively, over the previous season, according to the Price Observatory of the Junta de Andalucía.
"In general, tomatoes have gone very well since the beginning of the campaign. Tomatoes in Morocco are expensive. Thus, the product is staying in North Africa, and fewer tomatoes are entering Europe, which has been noticeable."
"Prices, however, are being held down by the virus issue. Morocco's production is very affected, but we also have been affected. Part of the countryside is being affected by the tomato brown rugose fruit virus here in Almeria," Julián said. "However, it's worth stating that our quality so far is very good. I would even say that it's the best we've had."
The cold is also helping us to have a staggered production, so it has been a very stable campaign with good prices for all kinds of tomatoes in general, but in particular, for branch tomatoes, Julián Rodríguez added. "There's a lack of branch tomatoes this year. Almost no country is producing them because they require more labor than other varieties. In fact, at the moment, the branch tomato is being sold for more than 2 euros per kilo."
Almería's campaign started nearly two weeks late because of the excessive heat in September and October and the fear of the expansion of pests. This limited the campaign's initial supply. However, it seems that the supply was also low in other Mediterranean areas. According to the most recent report of reinforced monitoring of tomato imports by the EU, in September, EU tomato imports from Morocco decreased by 28.2% over the same month of the previous year, and tomato imports from Tunisia decreased by 43.6%.
"The campaign peaks in February, and we hope production will be good to counteract the delay with which we started," he stated. "The good news is that the plants have a lot of fruit, and it should start coming out in just a few weeks."