Latest news
- Sophie Colvine
- WPTC
WPTC crop update as of 29 September 2023
Amitom countries
Egypt
Summer crop is over with almost lower than initial forecast. Now we are in transition period till Nili crop as expected to start by mid of October and quality looks promising.
France
At the end of last week, 143,000 tonnes had been processed with an average brix close to 5 and 6.55% of penalties. The forecast is good for the next few days with a good “Indian summer” and harvest should finish next week with a total volume of about 155,000 tonnes, when contracts were for 163,000 tonnes. A total of 2,248 hectares were planted, of which 385 hectares were organic.
Greece
The effect of the floods were more severe than expected and the total forecast is reduced to 390,000 tonnes. The harvest is now finished in the south where there were no damages. n the Centre/North, the season has practically finished as small quantities are delivered by farmers to the
Hungary
There are only a few days left until the end of the season due to rain arrived on Saturday. The total processed quantity will be 110.000 tonnes with an average Brix of 5.
Iran
Factories in the north and North-west are running well at full capacity with a favourable weather due to lower temperatures of 22-27°C. Information from the Ministry estimates the total volume processed in 2023 at 1.9 million tonnes.
Italy
North – It rained last weekend and the factories stopped at the beginning of the week. About 80% of them have since restarted but most will close at the end of this week while some will process small volumes for a couple more weeks. As of 17 September, 2.43 million tonnes had been processed, 76% of the contracted volume, with an average brix of 4.9 and penalties of 4.78%. The yield of the late crop is not high.
South – It also rained at the beginning of the week and factories will restart now. Ripening of the late crop is not homogenous and there are many green tomatoes harvested, reducing yield. Factories will mostly remain open into October.
The overall forecast for Italy is reduced to 5.4 million tonnes at the most.
Portugal
The weather last week and this week is very good with temperatures abut28°C and 30°C is expected in the next few days. A few factories are still working but two will close this week. Only one should remain open next week as there are still tomatoes in the fields. The forecast remains unchanged.
Russia
No information received
Spain
In Andalusia, the harvest is finishing this week with small volumes. The total crop will be below the initial estimates due to rains which delayed the harvest which should have been finished by now. The quality of the late tomatoes has not been great and farm yields low.
In Extremadura, it rained last week and some of the plants are now closed. Most of the factories that remain open are closing this week but a few will continue working some days in October. Yields are lower and quality is not so good now.
In the North the season will continue until mid-October.
The total production is still estimated at about 2.6 million tonnes.
Tunisia
Seasonal tomato processing is completed in Tunisia, with a total volume processed of nearly 650,000 tonnes.
Turkey
Only a few factories are still running and the last should close on 7 or 8 October. The harvest is winding down in Bursa with only about 5 to 6 days left, but there is still about 30% of the fields left to harvest in Konya. Some light rains are expected in the next few days but it should not affect the harvest. The forecast is raised from 2.6 million tonnes to 2.7 million tonnes.
Ukraine
No information received
Other WPTC countries
Brazil
As of today, no changes in the numbers. However, we are in a middle of a hot wave that is supposed to end in 3 or 4 days more. After it we will be able to tell you the real situation.
California
The estimate is to process 1,004,139 short tons ((910,813 metric tonnes) this week. At the end of this week (week ending 30 September) we will have processed 9,411,472 short tons (8,537,515 metric tonnes).
Yields are starting to slightly decline from previous weeks levels (this is normal for this time of year). Solids continue to trend below historical levels and have been that way for the entire season. As you would expect, we are starting to see some chances of precipitation appear on the 10-day forecasts. We will have to see what if any rain actually falls. We will have 2-3 weeks of strong harvesting and then it will begin to tapper off.
The previous estimate remains unchanged at this time.
Canada
China
No information received
Japan
Harvesting in Japan is almost complete, except for parts of the Hokkaido region.
South Africa
The South African season ended in September and delivered a 160,000 tonnes fresh tomato harvest for the 2023 season.
