"The season is going rather well especially for red tomatoes, which are a winter product. Salad varieties are not doing so well because of the weather," explains Mario Tartari, sales manager for Eurofrut.
The weather also affected production. "Bad weather last week in Spain meant we have less product in our markets. Conditions in Sicily slowed down production there too, so we can say prices are rather satisfying for producers at the moment."
Bunch tomatoes are sold at €1-1.50/kg, whereas cherry tomatoes hover between €2-2.20/kg and date tomatoes reach €2.50-2.70/kg. Piccadilly are sold at €1.80-2.20/kg. These are the prices for the domestic produce, whereas those for the Spanish produce are lower "because their tomatoes are smaller and with a slightly lower quality."
As regards salad varieties (i.e. the green ones), "beefsteak are sold at between €1.80-2/kg. Sicily is already in its second month and produce from Liguria has just arrived on the market as well."
Last week's bad weather and good prices have arrived at a crucial moment, as Easter is approaching "and usually consumption is good. I don't think prices will drop in the next few days, nor will they increase, because we don't want to drive consumers away." It seems the situation is thus rather stable in the tomato market.