Tomato growers ‘struggling to survive’
HORTICULUTRE: Low prices hurt Kiwi growers already hit by an Aussie import ban.
While cheap tomatoes may be good news for shoppers at the checkout, low prices are hurting returns for the country’s growers.
It has been a bumper crop with good volumes and quality for the country’s roughly 120 commercial tomato growers this season.
But after a third season without being able to export to Australia due to a pepino mosaic virus (PEPMV) outbreak in 2021, an oversupply in the domestic market has depressed prices.
Tomatoes New Zealand chairman Barry O’neil said the season started well but prices now had dived.
“As the season went on and production increased, volumes increased and prices come down,” O’neil said.
“So towards the end of the season, growers have been losing money on the tomatoes that they’re selling into the supermarkets, which isn’t flash.
“Obviously growers are struggling to actually survive in situations like we’re in at the moment.”
He said about 10 per cent of the crop was usually exported, to top market Australia and other countries — but that was well down to 1 or 2 per cent this year.
Tomatoes retailing here for as low as $2.99/kg in supermarkets meant growers would not break even.
“The returns that growers [are] getting at the moment certainly are not reflecting those increased production costs.
“So as a result, growers will leave the industry, no doubt.”
O’neil said he hoped Kiwi shoppers would support the sector by buying locally grown tomatoes instead of imported fruit.
Stats NZ figures showed the value of the export crop had fallen in recent years — earning $3.88 million in 2022 to 2023, after peaking just before Covid-19 and the PEPMV virus halted exports to Australia, at $12.2m.
The Ministry for Primary Industries said it was working with its counterparts across the ditch, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, to resolve the issue.
MPI manager of plant exports, Shane Olsen said exports were suspended in 2021 as PEPMV was a regulated quarantine pest for Australia but progress was being made in negotiations and new conditions for imports of fresh tomatoes were being finalised. ■ —RNZ