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News

France: ambitious development projects for the industry

21/11/2024 - François-Xavier Branthôme - Lire en français

The French processing industry of field-grown tomatoes is aiming to double in size by 2030, with the support of industrial operators who are keen to secure their supplies.

"Tomatoes picked when ripe and used fresh make a real organoleptic difference to the product," says Anne Auffret, group manager of the Italian and exotic division of Cofigeo, the French leader in ready-to-serve meals and products. With its William Saurin, Raynal et Roquelaure, Zapetti and Garbit brands, the Cofigeo group is able to cover 7% of its needs with French-grown fresh or processed tomatoes.

This is why Cofigeo is committed to supporting this sector, which has been weakened by recent climatic hazards and by the drop in the number of growers, divided by five over the past thirty years. To secure its supplies, the Group has set up a support plan offering outlets for processing tomatoes, whether in whole or concentrated form. This plan includes a three-year contract policy and a stronger partnership with Panier Provençal, a company taken over by the CAPL cooperative (Provence-Languedoc Agricultural Cooperative) and located less than an hour's drive from the Group's production plant in Camaret-sur-Aigues, Vaucluse.
Since September, 100% of Zapetti prepared sauces have been made with French tomatoes. "In 2025, we plan to double this share from France, to over 10,000 t of fresh tomato equivalent," announced Thomas Dutoyer, Purchasing Director at Cofigeo. The Group aims to reach 20% of its supplies sourced from French growers, i.e. more than 10,000 tonnes in fresh tomato equivalent. The intention is to increase Zapetti sauces from 5,200 tonnes to 7,200 tonnes by 2025, and Garbit taboulés to 2,500 tonnes, with the added bonus of a considerably reduced carbon footprint thanks to a shorter supply chain.

Pilot sites in Provence
With a 2024 harvest estimated at 170,000 t, the French industry is still far from supplying all the market's needs for pastes, coulis and other purees, estimated at 1.5 million tonnes of fresh tomato equivalent. Although never sufficient, domestic production nonetheless represented 35% of consumption at the end of the 90s. With global warming and water shortages affecting Europe's two leading producers, Italy and Spain (crops in 2024 amounted to 5.25 and 3.1 million tonnes respectively), operators are aiming to return French production to its former levels.

Sonito, the interbranch organization for the tomato processing industry, estimates that it would be possible to double national production to 300,000 t grown on 4,500 ha, covering a quarter of market needs by 2030. In fact, this is the ambition of the cross-industry project called "Tommates" (Techniques, tools and methanization for multi-performance farming of territories and systems), launched in 2023 and supported by some twenty partners, including Sonito (see related articles below).
Between now and the end of 2029, it plans to set up several 1,200-hectare pilot sites between Valence and Arles (representing a tomato crop of 19,000 t/year), where processing tomatoes will be grown alongside rice in the Camargue region, vegetables in the Vaucluse and seeds in the Drôme. In each case, an anaerobic digestion plant will be used to recover crop waste for a dual purpose: manufacturing digestate (a fertilizer that would replace chemical fertilizers) for use on site, and biomethane that would be used to power the sector's farm machinery and processing plants.

Some complementary data
For more information on Cofigeo, click here.

Sources: LSA, ILEC - La Voix des marques

Related companies

RAYNAL & ROQUELAURE PROVENCE

Tomato processor See details

SONITO

Professional or non-profit organisation See details

France: The Sonito Tommates project praised by the Minister of Agriculture

03/06/2024 See details

France: multiperformance target for the TOMMATES project

28/09/2023 See details

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