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- marion
- September 7, 2022
AMITOM crop update as of 14 September 2022
The 2022 season is nearing its end in many of the AMITOM countries
Egypt
Factories will reach full capacity in the next 3 to 4 days. Quality is good and there is no change in the forecast.
France
At the end of last week (11/09), a total of 115,000 tonnes had been processed, of which 22,000 tonnes of organic tomatoes. Average brix to date is 4.82 and the penalties of 6%. In the South-East, rains totaling up to 180 mm in some areas on Wednesday and Thursday of last week interrupted the harvest until the beginning of this week. In the South-West, the crop this year has been good to date, a relief after two very difficult years. It is estimated that about 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of tomatoes remain in the fields to be harvested by the end of September so the total crop size will be reduced to a maximum of 140,000 tonnes.
Greece
There is no change to the forecast of 350,000 tonnes. The weather has been variable in the last few weeks and rains last week led to factories to close for 2 to 3 days. More rains are expected next Sunday and Monday. Field yield is not as good as was expected. The harvest is now finished in the south and will continue until 25 or 27 September in the centre. Quality this year was the best in several years with average brix just below 5.
Hungary
To date around 80% of the surfaces have been harvested and the season will end in about ten days with a total now expected to be around 80,000 tonnes only. Brix is good at c. 5. Some rains.
Italy
North- The last figures released by the OI Nord show that as of 04/09, 2.21 million tonnes had been processed with an average brix of 4.92 and 4.5% of penalties. During the last week, ending 11/09, it is estimated that a further 300,000 tonnes were processed bringing the total to 2.5 million tonnes. The harvest should finish before 25/09 with a further 300,000 tonnes expected to reach a total of 2.8 to 2.85 million tonnes, up from the 2.75 million tonnes initially expected, thanks to higher-than-expected yields in the middle of the season. Rains last week reduced intake and more are expected this coming weekend which may mean more factory stoppages.
South – The harvest is still going in Puglia. As of 9/09, more than 80% of the surfaces had been harvested according with last satellite survey, with 3,800 hectares remaining to be harvested. The forecast is reduced slightly to 2.5 to 2.55 million tonnes.
Consequently, the total for Italy remains the same at 5.4 million tonnes with a shift of some volume from the south, where surfaces were 14% lower than in 2021, to the north (with only a 4% reduction of surfaces).
Portugal
At the end of last week about 70 -80% of the forecast of 1.45 million tonnes had been processed. After six months of dry weather, it has been raining on Monday and today with up to 60 mm, but it should clear tomorrow, and factories should restart on Friday or Saturday. After the loss of nearly a week of processing time, the harvest should continue for a further three weeks to end during the first week of October. For now, the forecast remains unchanged but there may be some losses due to damages caused by the rain, especially for the last part of the crop.
Spain
The situation is not great as heavy rains started at the beginning of the week in Extremadura and yesterday in Andalusia with factories having to stop for at least one day. Due to the variable field yields expected to be down 10 to 20% compared to estimations at the start of the crop, the total estimate is further reduced to 2.1 million tonnes. Most plants will be closing this week in Extremadura, with the latest by the end of the month, while in Andalusia the harvest should finish by the end of week 38 or early week 39. The north also reports a difficult campaign with reduced yields.
Tunisia
After the end of the seasonal harvest, only two factories are now processing late tomatoes at an average rate of 950 tonnes per day and could continue until the end of October. As of 13/09, 607,971 tonnes of tomatoes have been processed and 93,534 tonnes of 28/30 paste produced. As of 31 August, 27,732 tonnes of 28/30 paste had been exported.
Turkey
The harvest is now finished in the South, and it is starting to wind down in the north (Bursa area) with about 20-30% of the crop remaining. In the central area of Konya, bigger surfaces were planted than other years and large volumes are being processed although spot prices are high. The total expectation is increased to 2.35 million tonnes despite high costs.