Big drop in tomato prices on the Polish market, but...

Prices of domestic greenhouse tomatoes in Poland have suffered a big fall in recent days. Besides, these prices have been in a dynamic downward trend since the beginning of April. In the larger-scale wholesale trade, the discount from 8 to 25 April was 39 per cent.

However, as you can see in our chart above, even such a significant decline has not brought current tomato prices below the levels of the same period in previous years. Prices for these vegetables remain at record highs.

What's more, this difference is likely to continue into the rest of the season. It is the result of a drastic change in greenhouse production conditions, including a huge increase in production costs. Importantly, the change in these conditions is Europe-wide, so import prices are also affected.

Our graph shows that the beginning of this week brought a halt to the downward trend of April. Today, tomato prices were higher than they were yesterday. Currently, B tomato prices are mostly in the range of 8.50-9.50 PLN/kg, and BB tomatoes 9.00-10.00 PLN/kg. At the Kalisz exchange, prices have reached the level of PLN 11.00 per kg. The weather has played a large role in this upward price trend. Contrary to earlier forecasts by synoptics, it did not get sunny and warm after Easter. On top of this, the demand for tomatoes is traditionally higher before May.