Netherlands: Rough tomato season; Santa tomatoes poor, least problematic plum

Dutch tomato sales are not doing well this year. Bart Zeevenhoven, who is responsible for the marketing of tomato specialties within Scherpenhuizen, is taking the Santa- and plum tomato season further, "The large segment is getting hit especially hard."

Round tomatoes

"The season for round tomatoes is still disappointing. Very few kilos are being harvested and prices still remain extremely low, partially due to pressure from imported tomatoes, which have been on the market a long time. The price for round tomatoes is around 30-35 cents. Many countries are self-sufficient in this area, and countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and Spain are formidable competitors. As long as these countries have cultivation under control, the cultivation in the Netherlands has a hard time," concludes Bart.

Santa's

To evaluate the Santa tomato season the trader first has to look back to last year's season, when problems in Spanish cultivation started in the beginning of 2014 and very little snack tomatoes were available so the price rose to an unprecedented 3 Euro per kilo. "At the beginning of the Dutch season people were very enthusiastic about the product. As production began, the price fell, but all in all it was a good year for the Santa tomatoes. This year there has been significant expansion in the Netherlands and Spain also had cultivation better under control, so they were able to continue for longer. Tunisia is also busy in the snack tomato sector. This season had a bit of a rough start, and except for one week when the prices went up, we have not had good prices."

Plum tomatoes

Bart characterizes the market for plum tomatoes as the "least bad" of all the tomatoes in the tomato sector. Tunisia has hardly any plum tomatoes and Morocco and Spain have quite a lot, but that does not seem to stand in the way of Dutch cultivation. Here and there holes in the market can be found, and that has resulted in a long term, reasonable price level. We were getting 85 cents, but now we are between 45 and 55 cents."

"Right now we are in a situation in which everyone expects prices to rise. Therefore, there is some reluctance in sales. Production will fall somewhat and the weather forecasts for the next few days are a lot better. We will have to wait and see if this will result in greater demand," says Bart.

For more information:

Scherpenhuizen B.V.
Bart Zeevenhoven
Tel: +31(0)40 258 4670
b.zeevenhoven@scherpenhuizen.nl
www.scherpenhuizen.nl