From May to mid-October, the Gardeners’ Association was out checking the price of tomatoes. The same product and in the same store – whole, round and Norwegian-produced tomatoes in bulk. Conclusion: Price to tomato producers: + 4 percent. Price to the consumer: + 35.5 percent. – When there is a moderate price increase for the producer, and a very high price increase for the consumer, we wonder where the margins have gone, says general secretary Arne Kristian Kolberg. Arne Kristian Kolberg is general secretary of the Gardeners’ Association. He questions the margins. Photo: Peder Martin Bergholt / news – Not the consumer or the gardener to the good Kolberg says that they experience good quality in the products, and that Norwegian vegetables and fruit are in demand. Therefore, they now ask questions and wonder about the margins. – Somewhere there have been higher margins. It has not benefited the consumer or the gardener. – Not making more money selling tomatoes now The grocery chain’s margins are stable and low over time. It has been proven in recent decades, says Bendik Solum Whist, branch director at Virke. – Norwegian grocery stores do not make more money selling tomatoes now than they did before. He says that the rise in the price of tomatoes in shops has a direct connection with increased costs throughout the value chain. Examples are electricity, transport, packaging and labor costs. In addition, the state must have VAT on top of that. – Does that explain such a large gap? 35 percent versus 4 percent. – Those who produce tomatoes in Norway asked for a 4 percent increase in the price from 2022 to 2023. They got that price increase. It is an agreement that is made on an annual basis between the producers and the chains, says Solum Whist. Industry director Bendik Solum Whist in Virke says the shops do not make more money from tomato sales than before. Photo: Virke Cost increases further back More Norwegian tomatoes have never been sold than in 2023, says the industry director. – Norwegian tomato producers have also had good earnings because they have had much larger volumes in sales in Norwegian grocery stores. – But consumers have to pay 35 percent extra? – It is disturbing when we have cost growth backwards in the value chain. But the stores can’t run at a loss or break even, says Solum Whist. It may also be because the cost growth that came as a result of the crisis in Ukraine and the energy crisis last year led to a slight backlog into 2023, he says. Thinks market power should be followed Food researcher Ivar Pettersen points out large price differences for tomatoes during a tour of a grocery store in Tønsberg. The researcher in ALO-Analyse believes that market power in the fruit and vegetable industry should be replaced. – We have players here who sit on between 60 and 70 per cent of the turnover within a large category. so there is every reason to follow along. The Norwegian Competition Authority then also monitors developments in this sector.
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Large gap between the price of tomato producers and consumers – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
