Tomato shortage puts squeeze on pizza prices while chefs get inventive with alternative bases

27 Feb 2023 --- Pizza makers are getting creative as a shortage of tomatoes is forcing them to find alternative bases such as asparagus and courgettes. Tomato-less pizza is also making an appearance on the menus of some outlets while the price of the fruit is spiking because they’re in such short supply in Britain.

Tomato prices reached £2.96 per kg (US$ 3.53) in January, up 22.3% in a year, according to the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). Chefs are reporting that a short squeeze in the last weeks has sent prices skyrocketing.

“There is a shortage of fresh tomatoes in the UK and elsewhere due to a combination of factors – some growers did not put down the crops in the autumn due to high energy costs making it commercially unviable, plus the crops in Spain and Morocco have been hit by bad weather,” Jim Winship, director of the UK Pizza Pasta & Italian Food Association, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“In some cases, the cost of fresh tomatoes has risen by as much as 400% due to the shortages. However, this is expected to be a short-term thing with supplies returning to around normal in about a month.”

Winship explains that most of the supply for canned tomatoes – the ones normally used in pizzas – was contracted last year. However, those restaurants that didn’t secure the fruit early are looking at 100% price increases.

Customers are also facing rationing of tomatoes, as well as other vegetables, with Tesco, for example, limiting the number of salad products to three per customer. 

Last week the UK National Farmers Union alerted the British government that food supplies are threatened by “disaster.”

According to the LVGA, half of the greenhouses are empty in 2022. Squashing buyers hopes
According to the ONS, the UK is facing its highest food price inflation since 1977, with food prices accelerating at 16.7%.

Part of the shortage is because some UK greenhouses were not operating properly because of high energy and fertilizer prices from last year. 

Nonetheless, lower energy costs have allowed some greenhouses to start operating again, with the Lea Valley Growers Association (LGVA) saying that produce will arrive on the shelves in May. Concretely for tomatoes, Winship is more optimistic.

“We are expecting the fresh tomato problems to abate by around the end of March,” he says

Imported tomatoes
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, the UK was in 2020 the fourth largest importer of tomatoes in the world, with the Netherlands, Spain and Morocco being its most important trade partners. 

During some months of the year, the UK imports over 90% of its tomatoes, according to the British Retail Consortium.

After Brexit, commerce with Morocco boomed, becoming the country’s second largest tomato exporter to the UK. However, Morocco has moved to secure its domestic supplies due to the upcoming Ramadan period, establishing quotes on tomato exports, according to the countries’ Agriculture ministry.  According to the EC, Morocco’s tomato imports to the EU amounted to 15,881 metric tons this month (until February 23), compared to 69,253 metric tons in February 2022.

The country is battling a drought, with water rationing in place, with other headwinds, such as high potash prices, harming production. 

According to the European Commission, Morocco’s tomato imports to the EU amounted to 15,881 metric tons this month (until February 23), compared to 69,253 metric tons in February 2022.

In Spain, a cold snap caused production to drop 22% from last year, according to the fruit and vegetable association Coexphal. In 2022, Spain exported 5% less tomatoes, due to the intense summer drought, according to the Spanish Federation of Producers and Exporters of Fruits and Vegetables.

Last year drought, climatic conditions and labor shortages caused tomato producers to cut production estimates across countries.

By Marc Cervera