Polish greenhouse tomatoes are making a comeback.
Red tomatoes from domestic greenhouses have returned to the Polish wholesale market. In a few days, their supply will start to increase more rapidly. Wholesale on a larger scale will start in the first decade of April, of course, unless the weather plays a trick. However, it will still take some time for domestic red tomatoes to take over the market dominance from imports. For now, the supply is still limited, which translates to high prices in small wholesale.
In the "tomato hub" in the Kalisz region, the supply of domestic red tomatoes will grow the fastest. Currently, prices at the local market are at the level of 90 PLN/box of 6 kg (15 PLN/kg). This year's season started there much earlier than last year. Back then it was the end of March, now it's the beginning of the same month. Since the beginning of this year's quotations at the Kalisz market, prices of domestic red tomatoes have decreased by around 31 percent.
At the Bronisze market near Warsaw, prices of red tomatoes from local greenhouses are higher than those in Kalisz. Today it ranges from 16-21 PLN/kg. The season started here only on March 20, and since then the average price has dropped by 12 percent. In April, especially with warm weather, the prices of these tomatoes will decrease, and the pace of this trend will accelerate. However, it will only be after the long May weekend when a significant acceleration of this process will occur, and real trade in large wholesale will flourish.
source: own elaboration based on GUS data
As seen in the first chart, it is only in May that the export of tomatoes from Poland begins to clearly increase, although it is noteworthy that it is continuous throughout the year (winter re-export). We can see that in 2024, it was higher year-on-year in five out of twelve months. Germany was the largest recipient of Polish tomatoes in 2024 (19.4 thousand tons), followed by the Netherlands (12.2 thousand tons), and Ukraine (11.9 thousand tons). In 2024, Poland sold volumes of tomatoes above 1 thousand tons to 13 countries.
source: own elaboration based on GUS data
Regarding the import of tomatoes to Poland, the season starts in October, and the intensity of this import decreases significantly in June, although even at the peak of the Polish season, significant quantities of imported tomatoes reach our country.
We also see that in January this year, imports significantly decreased compared to previous months of this season, as well as year-on-year. This contributed to the "freezing" of prices of imported tomatoes in the Polish wholesale market.
The largest suppliers of tomatoes to Poland in the 2023/2024 season were the Netherlands (87.6 thousand tons), followed by Spain (46.6 thousand tons), and Morocco (33.7 thousand tons). In the first four months of the 2024/2025 season, the most tomatoes were imported to Poland from the Netherlands (24.2 thousand tons), followed by Morocco (17.4 thousand tons), and Spain (15.5 thousand tons).