"After several years of small-scale planting, snack tomatoes began to develop on a large scale in 2019. By this year, its planting area in China had exceeded 1,333 hectares."
Ganan Agricultural Technology (Shouguang) Co., Ltd. focuses on the planting and promotion of delicious tomatoes. Mr. Li Jianting, from the company, introduced the current development situation to FreshPlaza.
"The snack tomato is a relative niche fresh fruit. At present, we mainly promote two varieties: one is the strawberry tomato with a single fruit weight of 80-150 grams and the brix of the first-class fruit can reach more than 9. The taste is ideal, but the planting technology requires higher requirements. The other is the large-fruit tomato newly promoted this year. The weight of a single fruit is 150-200 grams, and some can reach 280 grams with the brix of 7. Although the taste is not as good as strawberry tomatoes, it is still good. The advantage is that the technical difficulty is relatively low and the yield is relatively high. Based on the planting characteristics of different production areas, these two varieties are being promoted in parallel. "
"Planting strawberry tomatoes is rather difficult, and the market at the end of last year was not satisfactory, which reduced the number of growers in the production season of early spring this year. The market is currently out of stock. However, judging from the follow-up planting situation, it is expected that there will be explosive growth in July this year. The market price will remain high. If there is no major price drop by then, this category will be relatively stable in the market.”
According to Li, compared to ordinary tomatoes with a retail price of about ¥6-12/kg, the market price of snack tomatoes is much higher: “For high-quality sources, the price of large-fruit snack tomatoes is about ￥16-24/kg, strawberry tomatoes are about ￥24-30/kg, and the market demand is stable. Due to the low production this year, the purchase price at orchards is twice as high as that of the same period last year."
Li said that the sales market for snack tomatoes has been opened, but the current difficulty lies in the planting end. "The planting management of snack tomatoes has not yet been standardized, especially in strawberry tomatoes. The water and fertilizer control techniques of growers in different production areas are different, and the yield, hardness, and taste of the fruits are not yet stable. This is why we will increase the large-fruit tomato varieties this year. The reason is that it is more labor-saving and has relatively low technical requirements."
In addition, in some production areas of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Hebei, the planting area of snack tomatoes has expanded by three times compared with the past.
Snack tomatoes can be planted in greenhouses, plastic greenhouses, or in the open field. They can be planted alternately in various production areas across the country and can be supplied throughout the year. The fruit from the beginning of October to May 1st next year has the highest brix and the best taste.
Ganan Agricultural Technology (Shouguang) Co., Ltd. is an enterprise with a whole industry chain of snack tomatoes, covering seed sales, planting guidance and finished product sales. The main brands include the "Shixiang Yilin" strawberry tomato, and the "Jinsheng Jinshi" large-size snack tomato. The company will participate in Macfrut in May this year, looking for partners in the European market.