According to figures collected by PTAB, the California’s 2023 processing tomato harvest tonnage for the week seventeen (ending November 4th) is estimated to deliver another 243,338 t (metric tonnes) (268,234 short tons) to the factories.
Week eighteen (ending November 11th) is estimated to be 42,132 t (46,443 short tons) which would bring the year-to-date total to an estimated 11,567,974 t (12,751,509 short tons).
For actual tonnes delivered (11.3 million t) through week sixteen, California is tracking above (+12%) the five year average (10.04 million t).
According to California processors, “It has been a good crop overall with field yields averaging 48 short tons per acre (107 t/ha) but very challenging logistically with issues during transplanting, unseasonable rains in the south in August, and a very late crop with large volumes processed after the end of September.”
There was no organic processing tomato deliveries for the week sixteen (ending October 28th) so that the total tons YTD 2023 season remains unchanged at 578,890 t (638,117 short tons), or 5.1% of the actual total delivered quantities.
The current total is the third largest in the history of California organic production.
If the weekly projections come true, the projected quantities on November 11 would represent more than 106% of the California processors' target (10.89 million t). The duration of the 2023 season is in line with the average of the last twenty years, but this campaign is one of those which ended the latest in the year.
Sources: PTAB, CLFP
