Tomato volumes to return to normal as winter’s end approaches

After a difficult few months during which the cold temperatures and high prices severely harmed tomato volumes, a Moroccan agronomic specialist is optimistic it will return to normal as the end of winter approaches.

Morocco’s low tomato production heavily affected the UK, as the kingdom ceased to export tomatoes, causing a crisis.

Horti Daily media, specialised in fruit and vegetable news stated that Morocco suffered from an 80% drop in daily tomato production as the weather got more severe.

Now that the temperatures are going up, Mustapha Aouragh, a tomato production agronomic specialist has expressed his hope in tomato season getting ‘saved’.

Aouragh claims that these circumstances herald the end of winter and make it possible to close the production deficit drastically.

“After a winter marked by severely low temperatures, growers have now to revitalize the soil and allow a second life to the tomato roots, and then balance the nutrition. Thermal shocks such as chergui are expected, but their effects can be reduced by strengthening greenhouses and controlling crop density and irrigation,” said the expert as read on Horti Daily.

By mid-April, the expert anticipates production to be back to normal levels, giving exporters two to three months to use all of their available capacity before the tomato season is through.

Mustapha stated that despite low supply, domestic demand for tomatoes is still very high at the moment. Export quotas are anticipated to gradually be reduced until totally eliminated by the end of April.

With these tomato volumes improvements, Britain’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, removed buying limits on tomatoes alongside other vegetables, which the supermarkets Aldi and Lidle also followed, as read on Daily Mail UK.