Argentina
With 6,100 hectares, the planted area in Argentina is finally very similar to last year when 488,000 tonnes were processed. There was a hail storm in San Juan that affected 300 hectares, so the total country forecast for this season after this storm has been reduced to 420,000 tonnes. The rest of the areas have had good weather conditions and growth with an increasing use of drip irrigation, mechanical transplants and rotative bed shapers for mechanical harvest.
 
Australia
Planting has just finished.  The season started well, but in mid-November the region experienced rain, and then further heavy rain fell in early December. Some growers were forced to pump water off fields as a result of these rain events. The forecast is 270,000 tonnes (in 2016/17, the forecast was initially 280,000 tonnes but production was reduced to 185,000 tonnes due to rains).
 
Chile
Weather conditions are ok and transplanting mainly finished on a total surface of approximately 12,200 hectares. If everything runs well, the harvest should start in the last week of January and the total volume processed should reach an estimated 1,090,000 tonnes (1,080,000 tonnes were processed in 2017).
 
Peru
Harvest started in November and should finish in February with an expected total volume of 110,000 tonnes (the same as in 2017).
 
South Africa
The crop in the Western Cape will be influenced by the impact of the drought. Some factories will not be in production during 2018 due to the impact of the drought. Conditions in the Northern production area is promising and additional hectares can be planted in the Northern production area and the Eastern Cape. The crop estimate for 2017/2018 is 165,000 tonnes compared to the final crop of 180,000 tonnes during the 2016/2017 season.