Once again, the beginning of this year’s import season for Canary Islands salads is almost upon us. The first tomato arrivals of what looks like being a good-quality crop are due in UK ports from week 42, while cucumbers are likely to see a slightly earlier-than-normal start at the beginning of November.
According to Araceli Valladares, from the Canaries’ Federation of Export Associations (Fedex), production levels for tomatoes and cucumbers have remained consistent in the islands over the last 12 months – a trend that looks likely to continue.
“Production levels have been very good, as have quality, but the tomato market was oversupplied during the second half of the campaign, resulting in low prices,” she explains. “In terms of cucumbers, although the situation was a little better than the season before, prices were not at the level we needed.”
This season, while it is too early to predict the pricing outlook, Valladares says crop quality looks good, with a slight increase in tomato production expected.
On average, the Canary Islands produce around 103,807 tonnes of tomatoes and 21,059 tonnes of cucumbers – the archipelago’s two principal salad crops – every year, according to Fedex.
Although round tomatoes remain the most important overall crop in volume terms, Valladares says the islands are seeing “substantial growth” in more specialist lines, namely cherry, pear, mini pear and on-the-vine products.
For both tomatoes and cucumbers, northern and eastern Europe form the main export markets, although Valladares says growers are “very interested” in achieving entry to the US and Japanese markets, despite the major challenges involved in achieving this.
“There are very serious technical barriers that are impeding our entry into markets of interest, especially the US and Japan,” she says.
Another challenge is what Valladares describes as “brutal and unfair competition” from non-European exporting countries – principally Morocco – in the EU tomato market, where she says some rival exporters consistently do not respect entry prices.
This situation, she continues, is leading some Canaries producers to move from tomato production to instead focus on alternative products, such as papayas and melons.
However, in spite of the challenges, Valladares says Fedex remains committed to promoting Canaries tomatoes, highlighting its presence in Fruit Logistica 2013 and ongoing promotion of the product in Sweden.
Like many other Canaries’ tomato producers, Fortuna Frutos focuses principally on the production of loose, round tomatoes, but also exports substantial volumes of vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, baby plum tomatoes and cucumbers.
The company, which draws its production from the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, saw its volume on loose round tomatoes increase by around 25 per cent last season, while its other product lines also recorded growth of between five and 10 per cent.
José Hernández, from the company’s Paddock Wood-based British subsidiary Fortuna Frutos UK, says the group is “concentrating on growing varieties that do not only provide good quality but also enhance the flavour”. “We supply a large volume to the catering and processing side of the business in the UK and it is very important to provide a product not only with consistent quality all the way through supply but also good flavour,” he explains.
In order to do this, Hernández says Fortuna “grows to order” varieties that provide higher percentages of smaller sizes, which he says provide both better yields and higher brix sugar levels.
Mariana and Dorothy are the company’s main varieties for loose round tomatoes – the first being “almost unique” to the Fortuna Frutos Group – while it specialises in the Santawest and Esencial varieties for cherry tomatoes and Angelle for baby plum.
“All these varieties are grown for flavour as opposed to conventional products and are purely grown to order,” adds Hernández.
However, he reveals that Fortuna currently has “more than 1,000” hybrids currently being trialled at its research centre, where the firm is aiming to develop new varieties with “good characteristics” that are especially resistant to disease.
For Andrew Zerpa-Falcon, from British importer Victoria Trading, the advantage of sourcing from the Canary Islands is that the start of the Canaries tomato and cucumber season “dovetails almost perfectly” with UK production – “just as the UK starts to decrease we commence”.
“For cucumbers in particular, our multiple plantings and the much milder Canaries climate helps to extend our season longer than the mainland Spanish crop – this fact enables us to cover the traditionally difficult month of February when the mainland Spanish crop can really suffer if temperatures have been low in Almeria,” he explains.
Victoria Trading, which sources from Gran Canaria through its Spanish parent company The Bonny Group, focuses on round tomatoes and cucumbers, supplemented by round vine, cherry vine, “high flavoured” baby plum, beef and organic tomatoes, which Zerpa-Falcon says “reflect the demands of the UK consumer”.
For this season, he says “everything has run smoothly over the summer” and Bonny has its “normal area” of over 550ha planted in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
Export volumes to the UK are expected to be similar to previous seasons, with more than 50 per cent of the produce coming through the Canary Terminal in Southampton.
Zerpa-Falcon adds that the group is “putting great effort” into trialling varieties, focusing on flavour, quality and yield, which he believes will help extend the firm’s long association with the UK well into the future.
Likewise, Morna Blair-Cornwell, managing director of fellow grower-importer MBJSC Produce, says production levels are likely to be good this season thanks to “little or no rain all winter”.
“The climate was ideal for growing and while it may be too early to predict, we expect to have our best year in terms of production from the Canaries,” she says.
MBJSC, which recently secured exclusive marketing rights with several growers in Tenerife, has a thriving 12-month business supplying retailers and foodservice clients, a key part of which is supplies of Canaries tomatoes and cucumbers during the winter months.
“We have always had strong links with the Canary Islands, but over the years have seen rationalisation occur in core lines including tomatoes due to challenges many growers face, such as ever-increasing growing and shipping costs, and uncertainty surrounding subsidies,” says Blair-Cornwell.
Despite this, she is confident the Canaries will continue to profit from an important supply window during the winter period, particularly as many growers are now diversifying into other crops such as melons and strawberries, as well as speciality tomatoes. —
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