For the thirteenth week of harvest (ending September 26) PTAB estimates that 832,189 metric tonnes (mT) (917,417 short tons (sT*)) were delivered. Provisional total (8,998,370 mT or 9,919,005 sT) is 5.5% lower than the average quantity processed during past three seasons at this time (9.52 million mT or 10.49 million sT).
For week 14 (ending October 3), projection for California harvest is down again with an estimate of 676,128 mT (745,373 sT). If achieved, this would bring the provisional total up to 9,674,561 mT (or 10,664,378 sT).
According to the PTAB, solids as of September 26 were about 0.08 higher than in the same period in 2019, averaging 5.24 versus 5.16 last year.
The 2020 California Organic processing tomato deliveries for the week ending 19 September were 20,345 mT (22,429 sT) bringing the provisional total to 472,440 mT (or 520,776 sT). Processed quantities in week 12 make it the second largest week in the history of organic processing tomato in California, slightly higher than the 2018 level on the same date. At this time, organic quantities account for 5.8% of total harvested quantity.
According to the figures available, the current harvest path is 523,679 mT (577,312 sT) behind the average of the quantities harvested at the same date (end of week 13) in the past three years.
According to the latest 2020 NASS Report, contracted production for California processing tomatoes is now forecast at 10.34 million metric tonnes (11.4 million short tons). Taking this change into consideration, quantities being harvested will bring the provisional processed total to more than 93% of the official target of the season.
* Note: 1 short ton = 0.90718474 metric tonne
Source: PTAB
