NORTH AMERICA - North American tomato growers are expecting to see some relief from the high prices seen in the earlier part of December 2014 as Mexican production accelerates.
“Prices feel like they’re starting to loosen up on everything, with the exception of TOV,” said Jeremy Stockwell, Director of Procurement and Sales, Double Diamond Farms. “Volume is going to start ramping up significantly out of Mexico this week and into next week.”
Matt Quiring, Sales Manager with Nature Fresh Farms, agreed, although he noted that we may not see any change in pricing until later this month. “We do see relief from these high prices coming, but not til mid-late January,” Quiring tells us. “Production should start to ramp up and we should get back to seeing a more ‘normal’ market condition.”
Above average fall temperatures and wet weather on the west coast contributed to the climb in all tomato categories in the earlier parts of December.
For field tomatoes out of Florida, extra-large sizes are still in good demand and continue to see strong pricing until Mexico increases shipments of 2-layer and 2-layer greens.
"Extra-large size tomatoes are still in very good demand. I anticipate that trend will continue up until the time you start seeing more increased shipments coming from Mexico," Tony DiMare, Vice President at DiMare Fresh tells us. "Shipments from Mexico are relatively moderate and volume is stable."
The market showed some signs of strengthening in November ahead of the Thanksgiving shipping period. Lower supply from Mexico may have been affected by weather-related events more than reports indicated, growers tell us.
“Availability seems to be limited coming up from Mexico for now and higher domestic markets are also more favorable compared to previous years which is keeping demand and prices up,” Quiring continued. “Back to back holidays at the latter part of December kept movement and demand strong through the end of the year.”
Jimmy Coppola, Account Marketing Manager at TopLine Farms, concurred, noting, “Though the weather in some areas has kept production down, the strong demand has kept prices up. Quality has been fantastic so far, and we foresee an excellent market ahead.”
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to track the North American tomato market into 2015.
