The 2023 harvest is now over in most regions. The world production estimate is revised slightly upwards but will be adjusted when the WPTC meets in Parma at the end of the month.
AMITOM COUNTRIES
EGYPT
The summer crop is over with almost lower than initial forecast. Nili crop expected to start by the second week of October and quality looks promising.
FRANCE
The season ended on Saturday 7 October in the South-West and on Monday 9 October in the South-East with an estimated volume close to 160,000 tonnes.
GREECE
Most of the factories are closed and only very small volumes are still processed. The total volume remains estimated at 390,000 tonnes.
HUNGARY
The final volume is estimated at 110,000 tonnes.
IRAN
Following consultations with the ministry and within the industry, the total forecast for 2023 is revised upwards to 2.3 to 2.4 million tonnes and final production for 2022 to 1.8 million tonnes.
There were rains in the North-West region in the last week and factories have slowed down but some are still running there and in the North.
ITALY
In the North, as of 1st October, 2.74 million tonnes had been processed, which is 86% of contracts, with an average brix of 4.88 (but down to 4.6 in the last week), and penalties of 4.83.
The average price index for the season is 96.3%. Only a few factories were still open at the start this week and most will close mid-week with only a couple still processing small volumes in the next few days.
In the South, about half of the factories are still open to process long tomatoes from Puglia and Basilicata, and some will run next week. This is exceptionally late and due to the strange weather this year. About 100,000 tonnes were processed last week and there are still tomatoes in the fields which are ripening late (up to 120 days cycle) and unevenly, which means that while quality is good, there are lots of greens.
The total volume for Italy is estimated at about 5.4 million tonnes.
PORTUGAL
The harvest finished a couple of weeks ago and the final production is estimated at 1.5 million tonnes, pending the final volume from one company.
SPAIN
The last factory closed yesterday in Extremadura. In the north, while some factories already closed, most will continue until 15 October, with a few until about 20 October. The total estimate remains 2.6 million tonnes.
TUNISIA
The final volume processed is estimated at 650,000 tonnes, pending the official data.
TURKEY
Only three factories are still working at a low capacity and should close by the end of the week. The total estimate remains 2.7 million tonnes.
OTHER WPTC MEMBERS
BRAZIL
The crop size will be reduced to 1.6 -1.7 million tonnes due to weather problems, with low brix.
CALIFORNIA
The estimate is to process 995,242 short tons (902,868 metric tonnes) this week. At the end of this week (week ending 14 October) we will have processed 11,259,740 short tons (10,213,993 metric tonnes).
Yields continue to slightly decline from previous week’s levels (this is normal for this time of year). At the end of this week 2 processors will finish for the season, from that point on we will see a few factories finish every 5 days or so until the end of the month. With that being said, we will see weekly volumes steadily declining. At this time the estimate should be increased to 12.3 million short tons (11.16 million metric tonnes).
CANADA
Harvest is running longer than usual and should be wrapping up within the next week. This year presented a lot of weather challenges with the early frost, excess rain and hail, which severely affected some fields. The remaining crop looks good and we’re hopeful contract tonnage will be achieved.
JAPAN
Harvesting in Japan has almost completed by the mid of October with a volume of 26,000tonnes.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa ended on a 160 000-metric tonnes harvest for the 2023 season.
In the Western Cape region, transplanting already started for the 2024 summer harvest.
Some complementary data
Sources: WPTC
