Tomato shortage expected to ease as winter electricity prices threaten production

Tomato shelves in Finnish shops are unusually empty, but the shortage is expected to ease within a few weeks, Yle reports. Greenhouse production is currently below normal because growers are changing plants and weather has affected the crop.

“Production volumes fall during the plant change. In addition, the weather has affected the harvest,” Jonas Lundström, sales and marketing director at Närpiön Vihannes, a greenhouse vegetable supplier, told Swedish-language Yle.

Production at Närpiön Vihannes is currently about 200 tonnes a week, compared with the usual 320 tonnes from October to May. Demand for tomatoes is currently higher than supply, a situation being balanced through price increases.

Supply is expected to recover in a few weeks, when the new plants begin producing about eight weeks after they are replaced.

High electricity prices threaten winter production

Greenhouse growers are more concerned about the winter, when electricity exchange prices are expected to remain high. Producers have increasingly switched to exchange-priced electricity because they have been unable to buy electricity sufficiently cheaply in advance.

“Individual days with high prices are not decisive, but long periods of high prices are a clear uncertainty factor for production,” Lundström said.

During the coldest periods, growers may have to reduce the number of hours tomatoes are lit, which would reduce the harvest. In the worst case, high electricity prices could make greenhouse production unprofitable and force greenhouses to close, as happened in winter 2022 to 2023.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed that the situation will not happen again. The starting point is that cultivation will continue normally throughout the winter,” Lundström said.