California harvest close to meeting two thirds of its targets
For the ninth week of harvest (ending August 29) PTAB estimates that 1,047,878 short tons (sT) (950,530 metric tonnes (mT)) were delivered. Provisional total (6,108,684 sT or 5,541,187 mT) is 10% lower than the average quantity processed during past three seasons at this time (6.83 million sT or 6.19 million mT).
For week 10 (ending September 5), California is projected to have its third million-ton week with an estimate of 1,017,511 short tons (922,984 mT). If achieved, this would bring the provisional total up to 7,126,195 sT, or 6,464,171 mT).
According to the PTAB, solids as of August 22 were about 0.18 higher than in the same period in 2019, averaging 5.41 versus 5.23 last year.
The 2020 California Organic processing tomato deliveries for the week ending 22 August were 39,327 sT (35,674 mT) bringing the provisional total to 406,852 sT (or 369,055 mT). Processed quantities in week 8 make it the third largest week in the history of organic processing tomato in California at this date. At this time, organic quantities account for less than 6% of total harvested quantity.
According to the figures available, the current harvest path is 718,011 sT (651,307 mT) behind the average of the quantities harvested at the same date (end of week 9) in the past three years.
According to the 2020 California Processing Tomato Report released on 27 August by NASS, contracted production for California processing tomatoes was revised downward and is now forecast at 11.4 million short tons (10,34 million metric tonnes),
Taking this change into consideration, quantities being harvested will bring the provisional processed total to more than 63% of the official target of the season (11.4 million sT, or 10.34 million mT).
Source: PTAB