October 5 2007, 09:29

Producers of tomato paste, juice and canned tomatoes dramatically reduced the volumes of tomato processing

According to information provided by the specialists of CIS produce business periodical "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly, as a consequence of poor tomato harvest in 2007 many processors failed to purchase the planned volumes of these raw materials. Even the market leaders declined 40% the purchased volumes comparing to the previous year when there were more than enough raw materials on market. To the specialists' opinion, the quality of the products to be processed was also far from being desired.

To the opinion of Andriy Yarmak, the Head of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" project, the decreased volumes of tomato processing in Ukraine will primarily affect the markets of tomato paste and tomato juice. During the previous season the excessive stocks of tomato paste have been accumulated in Ukraine; many enterprises actively imported these products in the first half 2006. In the second half 2006 the production of the national tomato paste sharply increased, so that the oversupply of this product was observed on market. Tomato paste import dramatically declined in 2007.

According to A. Yarmak, since recently the average prices have increased on the world market of tomato paste because of the increased sales prices in China. That's why in a new season the consumers of tomato paste in Ukraine (the producers of ketchup, sauces, tomato juice, etc) will have to purchase more expensive imported or national tomato paste. As a consequence, we can expect the prices to increase for tomato juice, ketchup and other products produced on the basis of tomatoes.

At the same time, there will probably be no significant changes on the market of canned tomatoes. The reason is the large reserves of ready products accumulated since the previous year. To our opinion, the prices for ready products may just insignificantly increase in a peak season of canned vegetable sales.

The details about the situation on fruit&vegetable market and the forecast of the situation development in 2008 will be presented by A. Yarmak, the Head of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" project in the first day of the fourth international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2007. Meeting New Leader", to be held on December 4th-6th 2007 on the territory of the National Complex "Expocenter of Ukraine" in Kyiv. To participate in the event, you can fill in the online registration form.