"Last week marked a turning point for the tomato market," according to a professional from the sector. After a month of poor prices in February, the tomato market in France suddenly seems to be brightening up. "Generally speaking, prices have been poor for all origins - Southern Europe, Benelux, North Africa - as a result of slow consumption."
However, the situation completely reversed last week. "We are now going in the opposite direction. We already know that we will have less production this week because of the revived demand. The start of the month, schools starting back, the good weather forecast and the desire to switch from winter produce to more spring-like fruit and vegetables are all indicators that point to an increase in consumption over the coming days. In fact, some chains are already planning to switch to French origin, a decision also motivated by the still relatively low prices. The lines are therefore opening a little earlier than usual."
Faced with this turnaround, producers are keen to raise prices, especially as production is not keeping pace with this revival in demand. "There is a slight delay of one to two weeks for some producers. From one day to the next, we find ourselves with little production and rising demand. I am not sure that the French origin will be enough to meet the demand on the French market in the next two weeks."
