WPTC crop update as of 23 July 2021
26/07/2021
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WPTC
, Sophie Colvine
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2021 Season
As the tomato processing season is starting in many Northern hemisphere countries, the global forecast remains unchanged at 38.8 million tonnes.
AMITOM countries
Egypt
Nothing changed to the previous situation. Harvesting and tomato supply to the processors is now stopped for few days because of Eid Al-Adha celebrations and will resume normally by the end of the week. Quality remains very good in terms of brix, colour & yield.
France
In the Southeast, the weather was quite cold at the start of July, but temperatures are now better and the tomatoes now maturing well. The harvest will start on Monday 26 July in both of the main factories.
In the Southwest, the weather has been disastrous in the last few weeks. Consequently, the harvest will be delayed by two weeks and some blight is reported. The overall forecast remains unchanged.
Greece
Violent hailstorms hit the country but, luckily, they did not affect the tomato growing regions. Factories in the south opened yesterday and today. The forecast remains unchanged.
Hungary
Due to heat waves and atmospheric drought of last weeks on several fields some crop loss can be predicted so the total annual forecast is reduced to 95,000 tonnes.
Italy
North - The official figures show that a total of 38,621 hectares were planted, 2.3% less than the contract figure. Of these about 4,000 hectares (10%) are organic. If the 5year average yield is used, total production could be 2.75 million tonnes, but the forecast of 2.8 million tonnes is maintained. The harvest is delayed by about a week with the harvest of specialities like datterini tomatoes starting this week, but the main crop will start next week, around 27-28 July, to reach full capacity in early August. Weather is now good for crop maturation, but some storms last week led to some bacterial diseases in some areas.
South – Some factory started Monday with Cherry tomatoes but most of the factories will start next week. Satellite monitoring found 32,600 ha; it is 14.12% more than last year. The crop forecast remains 2.7 million tonnes at normal yield. Early yields should be low, but operators are more optimistic for the middle and late crop. On Monday 19 July, heavy rain flooded small area in the Gargano-Puglia, with up to 70 to 100 cm in some fields, damages are limited on tomatoes.
Portugal
Last week temperatures were very high with up to 40°C during the days during 3 to 4 days, and then temperatures dropped by 8-10°C to 27-28°C during the days and down to 16°C during nights. This sudden change will probably delay the harvest of tomatoes that were maturing well so far. The crop still looks good, and the forecast is maintained at 1.4 million tonnes.
Spain
In Andalusia the first factory started at the beginning of July and the rest during the second week in July. Factories are now at full capacity.
In Extremadura, a few factories are starting this week, but most will do on Monday 26 July. After a wet and cool weather mid June, the weather improved to normal high temperatures. The forecast remains 3.1 million tonnes.
Tunisia
As of 18 July, about 65% of the total surface of 17,000 hectares has been harvested and 568,000 tonnes of tomatoes have been processed in 24 factories. Harvesting and processing have been temporarily stopped since 19 July for the festival of Eid El Kebir (20 & 21 July) and should resume on 22 July.
Harvesting is almost complete in the Kairouan and Cap Bon regions, however, it is continuing in the Gafsa and Northwest regions with a daily supply of processing plants of around 23,000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes. The total forecast remains 1 million tonnes.
Ukraine
The weather in June was extremely rainy. It caused a significant interruption in late tomatoes transplanting schedule. The transplanting of seedlings on the very last field have been finished on June 28th. The biggest damage was done to organic tomatoes as they could not stand late blight development. The weather in July is hotter than usual. There is still a delay with tomato development. We are facing high late blight pressure, high disease pressure due to past rains and some damage from hailstorm. Start of harvest is expected in the middle of August and we expect an interruption between early and mid-season varieties. The current forecast stands at 850,000 tonnes which is clearly achievable only if weather in September and October is favorable.
Other countries
Brazil
There is no change to report as weather conditions are good and good yields above 90 t/ha are expected from the 14,500 hectares planted.
California
The estimate is to process 785,805 short tons (712,870 metric tonnes) this week. At the end of this week (week ending 24 July) we will have processed 1,502,168 short tons. (1,362,743 metric tonnes).
The Northern part of the state is just beginning to start this week. Yields in the South to date are somewhat below contract at this point, while solids are performing close to their historical averages in the area. Yields will continue to be evaluated as we get further into the season. Overall quality and color are looking good at this time.
Canada
Weather has been a challenge for the tomato crop with heavy rains causing field flooding in some regions in addition to excess heat and humidity. It’s estimated that approximately 20% of the total crop has been lost. Despite the weather, disease pressure has remained relatively low.
China
The forecast remains 4.8 million tonnes.
Japan
The rainy season is over, and growth is still going well so far for the most areas in Japan. The forecast remains as before at 32,000 tonnes.
South Africa
The harvesting is in progress in the Musina area where 90,000 tonnes are expected. Added to the 40,000 tonnes already harvested in the Lutzville area, the overall forecast remains 130,000 tonnes.
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