In the past two months, the market for strawberry tomatoes produced in China has continued to decline. It is understood that before mid-July, the wholesale price of strawberry tomatoes remained at the regular price of ￥7/kg, and then the market continued to decline, falling to a minimum of ￥2/kg, and sales were slow.
"The recent price of high-quality strawberry tomatoes is about ￥5.6/kg, and the lowest price for inferior products is ￥2/kg. The price is not stable. Like our operation of contract farming, the purchase price has already been agreed upon, and the pressure is even greater. The low price has caused a lot of losses for the growers. Some bases and farmers have decided to change crops and switch to other crops when only 30% of the production capacity of the tomato field is released." Strawberry tomato is one of the main products of Jia'nan Agricultural Technology (Shouguang) Co., Ltd. Mr. Li Jianting, from the company, introduced the recent situation.
According to Li, one of the reasons is that a large number of tomatoes are on the market during the same period, which lowers the overall market. The main reason is that the high temperature seriously affects the quality of strawberry tomatoes, which makes the price low. "In the same period last year, the Brix reached 7.5, but this year it is only 6. This year, in key production areas such as Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, the highest temperature exceeded 37 °C. For about 25 days, there were continuous high temperatures and no rain, which shortened the ripening period of strawberry tomatoes. Last year, the natural ripening period was 65-70 days, but this year it is only 55 days. Premature ripening makes many fruits sour and tasteless. After July 15th, it was rainy for 15 consecutive days, which caused viral diseases, which greatly affected the appearance and taste."
Left: Tomato severely affected by high temperature; right: Unaffected tomatoes
"In previous years, the ratio of first-class fruit to second-class fruit was 7:3; this year there was only 30% of first-class fruit and this, coupled with natural losses during transportation, meant the proportion of first-class fruit was even lower, and the overall poor quality makes the price sluggish. Under this premise, even high-quality products cannot obtain good prices. On the other hand, due to the impact of the overall economy, the consumer interest in strawberry tomatoes has decreased."
In the past two years, high temperatures during the summer months have occurred frequently all over the world. In order to reduce the impact on crops, Li is considering changing the strawberry tomato base to a high-altitude mountainous area such as Qinghai or Gansu, where the annual maximum temperature is below 30°C. And at the same time, reducing the planting area of fruit-producing areas in summer, while increasing them in winter. "Winter fruits can avoid high temperatures and have better prices, and can also avoid the situation of more competing fresh fruits in summer."
According to Li, although the recent market is not ideal, the sector is still optimistic about the strawberry tomato, and the planting area is expanding: "The planting area has doubled nationwide, and our company has also expanded the base area by 30%. Taking Shouguang, Shandong, one of the production areas, as an example, the sales volume reached 50,000 kilograms a day during the peak period earlier."
Jia'nan Agricultural Technology (Shouguang) Co., Ltd.'s main brands include "Shixiang Yilin" strawberry tomatoes and big-sized "Jinsheng Jinshi" tomatoes. Sales channels include community group buying, wholesale markets, supermarkets, and e-commerce platforms.