The turnover from Saveol, after a very good season in 2010, has decreased by 6% to 142 million euro. The 150 farms connected to Saveol, where 130 were tomato companies (76 000 tonnes in 2011) and the other strawberry (1530 tons), cucumber (780 tonnes) and raspberry (20 tons), saw their incomes fall.
The cause of the downfall is the E. Coli epidemic which took over in May and June 2011. This crisis, especially in Germany cost lives. As a result, Germany the largest customer for Saveol, stopped its imports for three weeks. Saveol therefore exported only 13% of its tomato in place of the usual 18%.
Also the weather played big role in the decrease of the turnover. Because of the cool summer there were less tomatoes bought by tourists in France.
Over the whole season, for the round and vine tomatoes, 25 to 30% of their value was lost. The small segment, where Saveol is famous for, has almost no known bad effects and therefore represents almost 60% of turnover.
Saveol expects 81 000 tonnes of production in 2012. Of this, 4 500 tonnes will come from the Marseilles region, where a producer from Milizac has joined 3 producers from Saveol who are in these regions. This producer has invested in 3.5 ha greenhouses to produce tomatoes throughout the year .
The offer from Saveol always exists from 22 different varieties divided around 5 categories. This year there will be a new category because of the organic products.