Tomato growers look for late-season surge

UK tomato growers need a warm spell to give their campaign a late-season boost, an industry spokesman has said.

“The weather has been quite cool, and in parts of the UK, very wet,” said tomato agronomist and growers’ spokesman Gerry Hayman. “This is not really helping demand. What we need now is two to three weeks of warm weather. So far it has been pretty average for growers but the crops are still healthy.”

Market analyst Mintec reports that the wholesale price of tomatoes last week in the UK has fallen by 28 per cent year on year and is 13 per cent below the five-year seasonal average.