The tomato industries associated with Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura have reached an agreement for the reference price of contracts for the 2025 season at 115 Euros/tonne (delivered), whereas the rest of the sector's industries in the region, concluded at around 107 Euros/t (field price plus an average transport cost of around 7-9 Euros/t).
The February 14 deadline for submitting contracts to the authorities was met, so that the subsidies received by producers are not penalized. The organization stresses that this agreement reaffirms the key role of agri-food cooperatives in the economic and rural development of Extremadura. It also stresses that no farmer who is a member of these cooperatives receives prices below production costs.
According to Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura, the agreed price guarantees compliance with the law on the food chain, since a report drawn up by the organization itself estimated the average production cost of a ton of tomatoes last season at 114.7 euros.
Although the sector as a whole welcomes the benefits obtained by farmer-members of cooperative industries such as Carnes y Vegetales, Pronat, Tomalia and Tomates del Guadiana, Agryga president Herminio Íñiguez regrets that the costs were calculated taking into account only last year's average production.
Mr. Íñiguez disputes “the claim according to which the law on the food chain has been respected. Growing costs cannot be calculated on the basis of the previous year alone, but on the average of the last five years, especially in the case of [tomato] production. It's not fair to say that last year's costs amounted to 114 euros, because that's not accurate”. The president of Agryga points out that “the average yield had never reached 98 tons/hectare in Extremadura, it was the first time last year, so it's not fair to calculate costs on the basis of these averages. The costs are 126 euros per tonne.”
For the same reason, he doesn't find it logical that the price has been set at 115 euros, which is “only one euro more than the average production cost of this crop, which also requires a significant investment, of around 11,500 euros per hectare”, as stated in the Cooperativas Agroalimentarias study.
The sector warns that the production campaign is already conditioned by tomato imports from non-EU countries, where production costs are lower. Added to this are high stock levels and growing interest in growing industrial tomatoes in the region, with many growers seeing this as the only profitable alternative in the face of falling prices for other crops.
For the record, cooperatives and fruit and vegetable producer organizations (OPFH) associated with Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura accounted for 57% of the region's tomato production in the 2023 season. Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura member industries processed 783,964 tonnes, representing just over 38% of total processing activity in Extremadura.
Final production of industrial tomatoes in Extremadura for the 2023 season was 1,905,787 tonnes, 23.5% more than the previous year, of which 1,101,052 tonnes were produced by cooperatives and FVPOs associated with Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura.
The area devoted to industrial tomatoes in Extremadura in 2023 was 22,014 hectares, 18.3% more than the previous season (18,612 hectares). Average yields per hectare were 86.57 tons per hectare, higher than the previous season (82.90 tons per hectare) and in line with the average for the last six years.
Some complementary data
Change in indicative price for processing tomato in Spain
Sources: donbenito.com, canalextremadura.es, Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias Extremadura, WPTC
