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Tomato Market Update
January 29th, 2016
The tomato market is a bit mixed. We’ve seen short supply and good demand driving the market for the better part of October, November, December and January. Weather has not been helpful for the growers in Florida or Mexico and supply remains lighter than projections. Demand seems to have dipped slightly this last week, but with the Northeast seaboard digging out from a winter storm it was to be expected, and shippers continue to sell out of tomatoes daily.
Rounds:
Mature Greens from Florida remain very light in availability, harvests delayed with stormy weather. Good weather this week in Mexico will help moving forward, but cool weather the last few weeks is resulting in slow-growth for the fruit.
Vine Ripes from Mexico are also gapping; the fruit is just not ripening very quickly so light numbers are crossing the border.
Romas were gaining some ground on the supply side a few weeks ago, but some of the large buying organizations substituted romas in their contracts for the more expensive rounds, and we’re seeing both markets balance out.
Grape tomatoes remain light in supply and trending higher in price, buyers beware there are reports of sub-par quality in the market.
Cherry tomato prices are slightly up, but still reasonable.
Organic Tomatoes were very tight, but availability is improving this week and we’re seeing the prices settle, opportunities on Organic Romas for those interested in pushing volume.
Heirloom Tomato supply is much improved the last 2 weeks, and volume is available, prices dropped this week and we can get good supply moving forward.