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- Sophie
AMITOM crop update as of 18 September 2024
Bulgaria
Processing is going well with about 60% of the volume to already processed. It is one of the best years, with good quality and average brix of about 5, although a bit lower than the 5.2-5.3 expected. Recent lab analyses on fruits and tomato paste show no pesticide residues which demonstrates that the growers are following processors instructions. No change in the forecast.
Egypt
There is no change to the forecast. The summer crop is in its last stages, while the in between season will start mid-October. Planting for the winter crop is ongoing in the south and will last until November, for harvest until April.
France
The volume processed at the end of last week is estimated at about 113,000 tonnes, or around 65% of contracted volume. Harvesting in the south-west has been hampered by the rain. This has also been the case in the Rhône Valley, but not in the Camargue. The quality is still good, but we fear that further bad weather could have an impact on how the fruit holds up in the field. Forecasts remain unchanged at present.
Greece
The south has practically finished while some quantities remain to be harvested in the centre of the country. Heavy rain is expected today and tomorrow and this may affect the final figure which for now we maintain. We will update of a better forecast as soon as possible.
Hungary
Last weekend processing was stopped due to significant rains, but the rest of tomato can arrive within a few days because more than 90% of the crop was already processed. The annual forecast remains 115.000 tonnes.
Iran
Harvesting is continuing and it has started in the north. The weather is good, and all factories are currently processing. Overall, there is about a 2 to 3 weeks delay in the harvest to due power cuts and disputes on price of tomatoes so the total volume may be lower than the 1.5 million tonnes expected.
Italy
In the north, as of 8 September, only 1.93 million tonnes had been processed with an average brix of 5.06 and penalties of 4.9%. This volume is much lower than normal. It rained last week and this week with some interruptions in the harvest. Moreover, the surfaces planted for the late crop are having lower yields than expected so the forecast is reduced at about 2.5-2,55 million tonnes, but it will depend from the weather condition that for now are not good for the late crops.
At the same date in the South, a volume of 2.49 million tonnes had already been processed, in advance to the schedule and the target will be achieved before the end of September. Some factories already closed, some others are running but with low speed and for industrial products. The harvest should finish first week of October probably with higher volumes than expected that will compensate partially the lack of volume in the north, which means that the total forecast for Italy could be maintained at 5.4 million tonnes for now.
Portugal
As of 15 September, 70% of the overall forecast had been processed, with some factories more ahead than others. Temperatures are good at the moment (32-36°C in the last 8 days) but should reduce to 23-25°C from tomorrow and into next week. Overall quality is good although brix is now becoming more variable. Factories should run until the first week in October and final production will not exceed the forecast of 1.5 million tonnes.
Russia
(temporarily out of association)
No data
Spain
As of 16 September, 84% of the total forecast had been processed.
In Andalusia, the last factory is closing tomorrow, and the total production is slightly lower than forecast.
In Extremadura, factories are also starting to close in the Vegas Altas, with the last ones expected to finish next week, while in the Vegas Bajas where the crop is delayed, processing should continue until the first week in October. The weather in both regions is currently good, but some rains are forecasted for the next days and next week
In the North, the harvest is delayed, notably due to a week of intense rains, and harvest should continue until the end of October, and may the first week of November.
The overall forecast is increased to a possible 2.9 million tonnes if weather doesn’t interfere much in the next few weeks.
Tunisia
The harvesting season is nearing its end with a total of 974,000 tonnes processed as of 15 September.
Turkey
The Southern areas are finished with the harvest completely now and the Bursa area is coming into the final week of harvest. There have been a few cases of rainfall days apart from each other which has slowed down the harvest and caused a drop in the quality of the final ripe tomatoes.
The Konya has started and is slowly picking up the volumes. It is too early to comment on the quality of this area.
We retain our initial forecast.
Ukraine
Since the last update on 9 August, there were 147 air alerts on the South of Ukraine (an average 4 attacks per day). Unfortunately, Russian missiles hit our infrastructure 20 times, main targets were energy and agri logistics. Nevertheless, to date Ukraine processed around 52% of budgeted volumes (312,000 tonnes). Solids in fresh tomatoes were higher than usual with lovely 5.3 brix on average, but field yields were lower than expected. Factory yields and paste quality are good.
September started with rains this caused some interruptions with harvesting and processing. Now the weather is fine and stable. We would like to reduce the forecast down to 550,000 tonnes. Processing should last till 20th October.