New marmande tomato variety for the Spanish market

It is a tomato from the RAF family, whose main characteristics are "its chocolate colour, a high Brix level and its ribbed appearance," explains Manuel Ruiz, development and promotion coordinator at HM Clause. It will be officially launched in October under its new name; "a quality label and sign that it has passed certain controls and met some given standards," points out Ruiz.

In any case, it is not a totally unknown product, as it is already on the market under its provisional name "Unico." This has been the result of the collaboration between the seed company HM Clause and several companies based in Almeria and the coast of Granada. "In fact, when we talk about marketing, we must distinguish two aspects: that of seeds and that of the fruit," explains Ruiz. The fact is that the former will not go on sale until next May, at which time any growers interested will be able to acquire them. As for the tomatoes, 12 hectares were planted with the seeds that HM Clause provided for market development and their production is already on sale.


"At this point, we know that those 12 hectares planted have not been enough, because the demand is much greater than the supply," states Ruiz. The results achieved by "Unico" tomatoes have been very good, although not all countries have been equally open to this new product. "Markets like Spain or Italy are more accustomed to this kind of tomato with this specific appearance;" however, for consumers in countries like Germany, France or the UK it is a bit strange, "although when they taste it, they like it," affirms Ruiz.