Amitom countries
Bulgaria
To date about 50,000 to 55,000 tonnes have been processed but the harvest is not finished with about 50 hectares remaining for the biggest processor Balkan. The total volume should be close to the initial estimate of 60,000 tonnes.
In 2025, production should remain at the same level.
Egypt
Due to adverse weather conditions the summer season ended up earlier than expected: the average temperature in July and August was around 40-42° which affected the yield of the summer crop by -20% bringing the total forecast from 780,000 tonnes to 624,000 tonnes till the end of 2024.
Harvesting of Nili crop started mid-October and shall last till December, while transplanting of the winter crop will be completed by November in southern governorates as harvesting expected to start from mid November-beginning of December and expected to last till April 2025.
France
A total of 181,000 tonnes were initially expected. Spring weather, with frequent but not intense rainfall, caused significant delays in planting, pushing back the end until June 23, and led to diseases like mildew and bacterial infections. The fruit moth caused also damages in both the Southeast (SE) and southwest (SW) regions, requiring two exemptions for effective control.
Due to challenging spring conditions, the main harvest started in late July in SE, nearly 10 days later than the previous two early years. In SW, the harvest began after August 15 and has been hindered by frequent rains until now. The harvest is expected to continue until late October. 100% of the contracted volumes from SE has been processed, while only about 2/3 from SW has been processed so far now.
The expected final volume is around 170,000 tonnes, which is 94% of initial projections.
Greece
It has been a good year in general. The crop was early as it was hotter than usual. The harvest is now finished with a total volume of 510,000 tonnes.
For the 2025 crop as similar volume is expected. The major competing crop, cotton, is not doing so well so tomatoes are attractive for farmers.
Hungary
The plan of 120,000 tonnes was achieved despite some rainstorms at the end of the season. Average brix was 5.15. The largest processor Univer processed 95,000 tonnes.
It is probable that smaller volumes will be processed in 2025.
Iran
It has not been a great year in the country, with 30% reduction on production compared to last year and early forecast to an estimated 1.4 million tonnes. The harvest is now finishing. The reduction is due to production delayed by two to three weeks, to water shortage and electrical power cuts but also to processors not being able to match the high prices farmers could get on the fresh market.
Production will probably increase in 2025 but it is very early to determine. It is also likely that water and power issues could interfere again with processing.
Israel
A surface of 1,900 hectares was planted with plans to process 200,000 tonnes, which is the usual production in the country. The season last from mid-June to the end of August and this year very hot weather in June has led to reduced yields. Consequently, the total volume processed was only 185,000 tonnes. All the production is generally intended for the domestic market.
Italy
In the North, the harvest is almost finished and as of 13 October the OI Pomodoro Nord Italia reported that a volume of 2.37 million tonnes had been processed with an average brix of 5.01 and penalties of 5.14%. The campaign was affected by rains during the spring, which flooded some fields during planting, and throughout the late crop. Consequently, yields on the 41,500 hectares planted were at the lowest levels in the last ten years at under 60 tonnes per hectare. The final production should be close to 2.4 million tonnes, much lower than the forecast of 2.8 million tonnes.
In the South, on the contrary the season was very good with already two million tonnes processed at the end of August and a final volume between 2.8 and 2.85 million tonnes in expected. Four factories were still processing last week. The full capacity of 450,000 tonnes per week was fully utilised during this season. In the last three to four weeks, some factories were producing in drums for companies in the north to compensate the lost volumes there. Although quality was good, brix was lower than usual and processing yields were low notably due to some over maturation especially in August, so the volume of finished products is lower.
Final production in Italy will therefore be about 5.25 million tonnes, much lower than the 5.6 million tonnes initially forecast.
Portugal
The harvest started late but it was a normal year and is now finished with the final volume close to the estimate at just under 1.5 million tonnes. It was a smooth season with no heatwave. Yields were a bit lower than normal, but quality was good from start to finish, without the usual drop at the end of the season, and with an average colour.
Spain
The start of the harvest was delayed after late transplanting, but the weather was mostly good throughout the season, with only a couple of weeks of high temperatures. September was very good with no rain and mild temperatures so good yields close to 100 t/ha were achieved in Extremadura.
The harvest is not yet finished in the north, but the production estimate remains unchanged at approximately 3,06 million tonnes.
It is too early for a forecast for 2025 but there is a wish to reduce volumes.
Tunisia
For the 2024 crop a surface of 13,200 ha was planted for the main season crop with an additional 1 900 ha of late season tomatoes. The harvest started in late June. As of 10 October, 23 factories had processed a total of 980,000 tonnes of which 94% for tomato paste and 6% for other tomato products, with a volume of finished products of 81% 28/30 tomato paste and 19% other tomato products.
Turkey
The season when fairly smoothly with normal temperatures, enough water and no interruptions due to rain. Brix was very low throughout the season at 4.6, which was a challenge for processors, but colour and flavour were good. The will for factories to process was low due to stocks and farmers were not happy with the low prices offered for tomatoes on the spot market. There are still one or two processors still in operation in the Konya region, but the total crop is estimated at 2.7 million tonnes.
For next year, farmers will probably not be keen to process tomatoes due to the low prices this year but it was the same for the others crops so at least a baseline of 2.4 million tonnes should be achieved.
Ukraine
The season was strange. August was excellent with high average brix of 5.2, then there were interruptions in September due to rain and lower colour, while October was excellent with a good brix and colour of 2.3 to date, with another week of crop still to come in. The total size of the crop is estimated at about 540,000 tonnes but with low processing yields despite high brix.
Early estimates for 2025 are between 500,000 and 550,000 tonnes.
Other WPTC countries in the Northern Hemisphere
California
Only three plants are still running, and the harvest should finish in the next three days with a total crop of about 11 million short ton, just under 10 million metric tonnes. Average solids were at 5.3 but it has been a struggle with colour throughout the season. Without the high heat it would have been a bigger crop, but overall yields are at 48 short tons per acre, which is the average of the last three years. Overall, it was a “normal” year.
It is probable that the processing intentions for the 2025 will be lower.
Canada
The season started well but it was a wet one which affected the yields. The harvest however reached about 99% of the forecast at about 565,000 short tons (512,000 metric tonnes). Brix and colour were lower than normal.
China
The planting area of processing tomatoes in China is about 100,000 hectares, an increase of 25% compared to 2023. The harvest started early on 20 July and ended on 9 October, so the season’s length was 82 days which is 10 more days than in 2023. The season was complicated, difficult and long due to heat, rain and blight so the average yield was less than 105 t/ha. The final volume was about 10.45 million tonnes, a growth of 30% compared to 2023. The price of raw materials in 2024 was between 70 to 82 USD/t, with variations in the different regions about 16% less than in 2023.
Due to searing heat waves and rainfalls from time to time, the crop had been accelerated the concentrated ripening and rotting in August. Later, there were lots of green and rotting tomatoes in September and early October due to blight and rainfall. The quality of raw materials was not as good as earlier, processing period extended.
A total of 106 factories were running in 2024 which is 6 more than 2023 reaching a historic high with a daily processing capacity of 280,000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes, a year on year rise of 33%.
There is a consensus in China that production should be reduced in 2025 and one of the way to do it will be to reduce significantly the price paid for tomatoes.
Japan
The harvest in Hokkaido ended in mid-October marking the end of all processing tomato harvesting in Japan. Heavy rains and typhoons from late August to September reduced the harvest volume to 26,000 tonnes.
Other WPTC countries in the Southern Hemisphere
Argentina
Planting for the 2025 season is about half-way on a reduced surface of abut 7,500 hectares (8,000 hectares in 2024). The volume expected is about 580,000 tonnes when 631,000 tonnes were processed in 2024.
Australia
Planting started on 20 September on a total planned surface of 2,031 hectares. It is progressing according to schedule, with about half of the surface done to date, and should finish mid-November. The weather was very dry during the late Winter and early Spring, but then 25mm – 50mm of rain fell across entire growing region on 18 October.
A total production of 215,000 tonnes is expected in 2025. Only two processors (SPC and Kagome) will operate as Billabong Produce have exited the industry after 40 years of processing.
Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV) has been identified in Australia. This Exotic Disease Incursion has at this stage been delimited to 3 “Protected Cropping” properties in South Australia. Australia’s processing tomato industry and supplying nurseries remain unaffected and no disruption to the processing industry or tonnages based on this incursion is expected.
Brazil
The 2024 crop is better than in 2023 but below the 1.75 million tonnes expected at the beginning of the season mainly due to weather problems occurred in February and March this year. The final number will be around 1.65 million tonnes.
Chile
Chilean processors started transplanting for the 2025 season in the middle September with a total surface of 13.900 hectares for a total volume forecast of 1.3 million tonnes, similar to this year. Some rains disrupted planting in October, but all the fields should be planted. Water availability is good without any potential shortage after normal winter rains and with enough snow accumulated in the Andes.
Peru
Planting will start next week with a volume of about 150,000 tonnes planned again for 2025.
South Africa
