The campaign for Moroccan tomatoes started about a month and a half ago with very low volumes, but today, the supply has clearly increased. “With the high temperatures this summer, the planting was delayed, which resulted in low volumes early in the campaign and very high prices. Since then, the volumes have increased, and around mid-November, the market was quite sluggish, with rather low consumption,” explains Michel Martinez of Saint-Charles Primeurs.
Given the original predictions, the company expected the supply to decrease at the beginning of December, but it was not the case. “We received pretty bad directions since we were told that the volumes would be divided by two from the beginning of December. But the volumes are actually quite high, while consumption and prices remain low. We were able to slightly increase our prices earlier this week, but we are wondering if the situation will last. After some uncertainty during the first days of December, the trend seems to be confirmed, and prices should not go down anymore.”
The quality of the tomatoes has been very satisfactory so far. “The tomatoes keep well, with a nice color, which is relatively optimal.”
This is good news for the beginning of a season that is still full of uncertainties. “We expected a complicated year with high prices. The offer from the Netherlands and Belgium is indeed very limited due to the lack of planting caused by the increase in the cost of gas. But who knows if it will really be the case. Other parameters are still unknown, including how consumption will evolve. In any case, for us intermediaries, an extreme season with a supply that is either too low or too high never bodes well.”
For more information:
Michel Martinez
Saint-Charles PrimeursPhone: 04 87 93 70 34
michel@saint-charles-primeurs.com