A glut of tomatoes coming from Mexico has increased the volume of available fruit in the United States. With such a large supply of produce, prices for tomatoes are low, while many in the US hope for a rise in price as the year progresses.
Dino Mainolfi, of All American Farms, says that the market for tomatoes is currently flat.
“We have more tomatoes than we can sell,” he says.
Prices on Monday were reported at $8.95 per case for jumbo roma tomatoes, $7.95 for medium roma tomatoes and $6.95 for small roma tomatoes.
Prices for tomatoes are anticipated to remain low for the remainder of the month, according to Matt Mandel of SunFed Produce.
“Volume is at max capacity right now,” he says, “and it will stay there for about a month.”
He says that the Mexican state of Sinaloa is currently producing and shipping a lot of tomatoes to the US, and those large volumes have resulted in low prices.
“There's a voluntary price floor that Mexican growers have agreed to stick to,” he notes, “and we'll probably see prices for tomatoes at that price floor for most of February.”
He attributes the large volume partly to more tomatoes being moved to protected growing areas.
“Every year, more and more growing in Mexico is done in shade houses and hothouses,” he says, “and that means more volume.”
With more tomatoes grown in protected growing areas, the quality and consistency of tomatoes has also improved.
“You get a much more consistent tomato when it's grown in a protected area,” says Mandel.
With good quality and high volumes, prices remain low, but both Mandel and Mainolfi think the price will start rising in a matter of weeks.
Mainolfi thinks the market will clear up in about two weeks, and though Mandel thinks it might take as much as a month, he believes prices will eventually go up.
“This year, volume came a little later,” he says, “but as some producers start dropping out of the market, there will be less volume and prices will go up.”