Under the slogan "Innovating to lead: challenges and solutions", Rijk Zwaan organized a new edition of the Tomeet tomato congress on April 2 at the Cajamar headquarters, in the Industrial and Technological Park of Almeria (PITA).
© Marta del Moral Arroyo
A strong program of lectures and round tables served to analyze the main challenges in the sector. There was also a review of market developments and consumption trends, both in the Mediterranean and on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout the congress, a special focus was placed on discussing strategies to improve the competitiveness of Spanish tomatoes in general, and of Almeria tomatoes in particular, compared to other suppliers in the European market.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoCarmelo Salguero, from Granada La Palma, together with Rafael Lis, from Tomates Lis, and Juan Gallego and Abel Calero, from Granada La Palma.
After a welcome from Ricardo Ortiz, Sales Director of Rijk Zwaan Ibérica, Luis Miguel Fernández, Manager of Coexphal, outlined the situation of the tomato production sector in Spain.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoAna Cabrera.
Afterwards, Ana Cabrera, market technician from the Cajamar Group, looked back on 50 years of history of tomato cultivation in the Mediterranean Arc, where Turkey "is the undisputed leader," and a supplier to keep an eye on, as it only exports 5% of its production - compared to Morocco's 45.6% - and has remarkable potential to increase sales to Europe, one of its closest trading blocs.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoSlide shared by Ana Cabrera.
María José González, Executive of NIQ's Consumer & Marketing Insights Department, opened the second part of the day's session, "Market overview of Europe and the United Kingdom", with a breakdown of the data on tomato consumption both in Europe and in the British market. This information was complemented by Liam Booles, Commercial Director of APS Group.
David del Pino, Managing Director of Freshtrategy, also took part in this block. He addressed the trends and competitive attributes of tomatoes in the markets in a "conceptual presentation" - as he called it - highlighting something on which all speakers agreed: the outstanding value of the service offered by Spain in tomato marketing.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoRichy Menoyo and Sergio Mato, from Agroatlas.
The block concluded with a round table discussion entitled "The European market and the United Kingdom", with the participation of speakers Liam Booles and David del Pino, together with Jorge Ignacio Brotons, Sales Director of Bonnysa Agroalimentaria; Rubén Henríquez, Senior Commercial Buyer/Seller at Metro VTO, and Rafael Lis, Manager of Tomate Lis.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoAntonio Bretones, M.ª Gracia Melero and Juan Jesús Lara, from CASI.
Moving to the other side of the ocean, Amar Raja, VP of International Development at Mastronardi Produce (Sunset), presented an analysis of tomato market trends in North America and surprised the European attendees with the strength of branded tomato sales in the U.S. In fact, only 18% of sales of packaged tomatoes correspond to tomatoes sold under store brands.
On the very day that Donald Trump was launching his tariff crusade against the world, Amar explained that 70% of the tomatoes consumed in the U.S. are imported, and 99% of them come from Mexico and Canada.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoAmar Raja.
In the last section of the program, there was an analysis of the role of Spain and Portugal as key producer countries. Alberto Cuadrado, Global Client Manager of Rijk Zwaan Ibérica, presented an analysis of the tomato sector, after which Mabel Salinas, Head of Administration and Communication at Grupo Caparrós, spoke about Almerian tomatoes as a source of inspiration and shared the work being carried out by the Cofradía Gastronómica del Tomate de Almería.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoTomates Lis team.
The block ended with a round table discussion entitled "Spain and Portugal: strong producers and key markets", with the participation of Cedric de Mulder, head of fruit and vegetable purchasing at Consum Supermercados; Francisco Belmonte, manager of Biosabor; José Coutinho, Costa del Sol crop technician at Hortipor; Pere Meya, leader of the Soborum Origen project, and Juan Antonio González, president of Vicasol.
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Lastly, Manuel Hernández Fernández, tomato crop specialist at Rijk Zwaan Ibérica, and David Herzog, tomato crop coordinator at Rijk Zwaan, gave an overview of Rijk Zwaan's advances and efforts trying to meet the needs of growers and address the major challenges producers are facing, including the impact of ToBRFV, one of the most worrying pests at present, for which a full range of highly resistant varieties is being developed.
© Marta del Moral ArroyoAlberto Cuadrado, Global Client Manager of Rijk Zwaan Ibérica.