North Queensland tomato prices plummet 80 per cent

Bowen Gumlu Growers Association chief executive officer, Ty Collins, said they were expecting 110,000 tonnes of tomatoes this year from the region.

He said this compared to about 90,000 tonnes last season after 20,000 tonnes was damaged due to two quite severe rain events in May and June.

"Having that additional product on the market might seem like a good thing, but it's actually not because it softens prices quite considerably," he said.

"The season started off quite well transitioning through some of the southern growing regions to where our region was in production which is typically around the end of May when prices were quite good.

"We were seeing anything up to $70 a box for first grade tomatoes and we're well below that now. I am hearing $14 a box at the moment."

Mr Collins said $14 a box was barely profitable - it would be pretty much close to break even depending on the producer and what other cost pressures they might have in their business.

"Generally, with a lot of our production this year, a lot of producers aren't making money... and, yes, they're not in a great position at the moment.

"There is still a lot of time to go in our season and historically the peak production period for us for tomatoes is mid August through to end of September.

"We should have a conversation in another month and we should know if there's any light at the end of the tunnel."

Mr Collins explained Bowen was the winter production region for tomatoes and coming into September represented 50 per cent of field grown tomatoes in the country, predominantly gourmet and to a lesser degree Roma varieties.

He said there was a general softening of vegetable prices overall this season because of oversupply and the effects of consumer softness.

"In a high interest rate environment at the moment, we know historically that when times get tougher that fresh produce is one of the first things that exit the supermarket trolley," he said.

Mr Collins said another factor impacting prices that was less spoken about was the behaviour of the two large retailers, Coles and Woolworths, who were looking to shore up their margins.

He said this means they "squeeze the farmer" on price and order less fresh produce.

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