Mighirian Frères, specialized wholesaler on the Rungis market, started marketing the Indigo Blue tomato of the Provence brand at the end of January. “So far, we only offered Indigo Blue tomatoes from Spain. Because we have very good relations with our producer in Provence, we asked him to produce some Indigo Blue tomatoes,” explains Cédric Leite of Mighirian Frères. “This year is the first time we'll offer this reference from France to our clients.”
A variety that reveals itself better in Provence
Our first trial was rather successful since the variety grown in Provence has already been adopted. “So far, all the clients that tasted it, bought more of it. Compared to the Spanish origin, the Indigo Blue tomato is more blue and less dark. In terms of taste, it is much better, with a thinner skin and more pronounced flavors than its Spanish counterpart. We are very pleased with the feedback and we are planning to keep this line for the next season.”
Mighirian Frères, tomato specialist
As a tomato specialist, Mighirian Frères proposes some 40 tomato references. “The tomato represents 50% of our revenue. We are specialists. Our work consists in finding references that are not available elsewhere. We want to offer our clients products that are out of the ordinary in order to have the largest possible range of tomatoes.”
A complicated tomato market
Although the market is quite promising for niche products like the Indigo Blue tomato, the situation is more complex for the common varieties. “The tomato market in general is complicated at the moment because of the higher gas prices and the heating costs. As a consequence, Belgium and the Netherlands were not very present on the market this winter, because Belgian and Dutch producers did not succeed in passing these higher costs onto their selling prices. I believe that if the situation persists in the coming years, we will have a lot more French and Spanish merchandise in France during the winter season. And this is a good thing because we want to promote the French production, which is more and more popular with our clients.”
For more information:
Mighirian Frères
Cédric Leite
Phone: 01 41 73 78 14