News
The harvest has now started in most of the countries. In most of Europe and Northern Africa the succession of heatwaves has advanced the maturation of tomatoes in the fields and may shorten the season and reduce volumes, although there is no reduction in forecasts for the time being. Meanwhile the harvest is progressing well in other regions including California.
AMITOM COUNTRIES
BULGARIA
The harvest started last week with the last factory scheduled to start next week. Conditions are good to date and yield are as planned.
EGYPT
The summer harvest is delayed by two to three weeks due to late transplant. Temperatures are currently very high at 39-40°C on average with peaks to 43°C and this will hopefully not continue into August. Factories are now running normally and there is no change to the forecast.
FRANCE
In the south-east the harvest started early on 14 July and to date 17,000 tonnes have been processed. Quality and yield are good for now but there are concerns regarding the later part of the crop following the succession of heatwaves, with a new one starting today: there is a risk of stress on the canopy, blossom end rot, sunburns and loss of yield.
In the south-west harvest should start on 4 August.
GREECE
Factories in the south started on 22 July, and in the centre slowly on the 24th. The crop is progressing well. Some rains and a short heatwave did not cause serious problems. The forecast remains unchanged.
HUNGARY
The weather is changing, after the heatwave came a period when the nights were unusually cool. Unfortunately, there is hardly any precipitation, only small, local showers. Extreme heat will return in the next few days. The forecast is unchanged.
IRAN
There is not much change to report. War conditions are complicating the situation.
ITALY
In the North, the harvest began very early: on 9 July with certain specialty varieties (datterini, cherry, etc.) and on 13 July with round tomatoes. Nearly all factories have been operating since last week. OI Pomodoro reported a total processed volume of 175,000 tonnes as of 19 July (a record for this date), with an average of 5.1 °Brix and a 4.2% penalty rate.
Rain and hail last week, mainly in the eastern part of Emilia-Romagna (Ferrara and Ravenna) and Lombardia (Mantua), affected several thousand hectares, with varying degrees of damage. The overall forecast is unchanged, but the mid- and late-season crop is likely to be affected by the heatwaves, with temperatures again expected to exceed 35 °C by day and 25 °C at night over the coming week. The early crop is ripening very quickly, and a sharp drop in volume is expected after 20–25 August, following a large production peak that may strain factories’ ability to absorb all the ripening fruit, given very limited spare capacity.
In the Centre and South, the harvest also started one week early in week 29 (w/s 13 July) in Caserta with good quality but with lower brix. In Puglia harvest, at high rate, will start next week with long tomatoes. High temperatures are accelerating ripening and causing some concerns for the mid and late part of the crop. There is spare capacity but limited by transport capacity in order to absorb a large peak.
Surfaces planted were measured at 38,000 hectares, +15.4% compared with 2025.
Forecasts remain unchanged at 3.1 million tonnes for the north and 3 million tonnes for the South.
PORTUGAL
The harvest started this week. Temperatures have been stable after the first heatwave in early July and the crop looks promising.
SERBIA
A strong heatwave is expected for the next ten days with night temperatures above 20°C. Most of the irrigation comes from rivers which are currently very low and in the north irrigation had to be stopped which may reduce yields in fields. Moreover, some surfaces were damaged by hail. In other areas conditions are good and yields averaging 90 t/ha are expected.
The total forecast is reduced by 5% to about 54,000 tonnes.
SPAIN
The harvest started during the second week of July in Andalusia and all factories are now at full capacity with pressure from the fields as tomato is ripening faster than expected. Yields are now good after a low start. Quality is good, with good brix and colour.
In Extremadura the harvest started on Monday 20 July and since Monday all plants are open. Early tomatoes are fine but there are concerns regarding the middle and late part of the crop which will be affected by the successive heatwaves, although it is currently difficult to estimate the losses.
TUNISIA
As of 26 July, 533,000 tonnes had already been processed. Currently 19 factories are operating with a daily input of 19,500 tonnes.
During the second half of July, the Tunisian industrial tomato processing sector was affected by an exceptional heatwave that swept across the whole country. In several regions, temperatures exceeded 45°C, reaching 49°C in some areas, placing significant strain on agricultural activities and industrial facilities.
According to the National Institute of Meteorology (INM), this heatwave, which lasted from 14 to 27 July, came to an end with a widespread drop in temperatures and the return of rainfall in several regions, facilitating a gradual return to more favourable weather conditions.
In agricultural terms, the high temperatures accelerated the ripening of tomatoes, shortening the optimal harvesting period. In some fields facing a shortage of irrigation towards the end of the growing cycle, cases of sunscald on the fruit were observed, occasionally affecting their quality. Conversely, plots benefiting from controlled irrigation and managed in accordance with technical guidelines suited to mechanical harvesting withstood the high temperatures better thanks to more developed plant cover, thereby limiting the effects of the heat on the fruit.
Despite these difficulties, the sector has managed to maintain a daily processing rate of between 19,000 and 20,000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes, demonstrating the responsiveness of processors and the effective coordination between all stakeholders. This performance confirms that the overall impact of the heatwave remained limited and did not jeopardise the smooth running of the national processing season.
Despite particularly challenging weather conditions, the 2026 season thus confirms the adaptability of Tunisia’s industrial tomato sector, thanks to the efforts of producers, processors and public institutions, which ensured that operations continued under satisfactory conditions.
TURKIYE
The harvest only started slowly last Monday in the south and all factories are not yet open. There will be a slight delay in the north with the start expected around 8-10 August. Like in the Greece there has been some heavy rain near Bursa but no hail. The country has not been affected by the heatwaves. The crop is delayed but shows good development and there is no change to the forecast.
UKRAINE
The forecast remains the same at 550,000 tonnes. There are enough tomato fields to achieve this goal. The weather in July was variable: hot at the beginning; Some rains and even hailstorms in the middle of month; heat wave last week; nice difference of day and night temperature. As for now, no significant damage or unusual pressure from weeds and insects have been reported. The harvest should start in two weeks.
OTHER WPTC COUNTRIES
BRAZIL
There is no change to the previous estimate of c. 1.35 million tonnes. All factories are now processing.
CALIFORNIA
The estimate is to process 843,201 short tons (764,939 metric tonnes) this week. At the end of this week (week ending August 1st) we will have processed 2,425,192 short tons (2,200,097 metric tonnes).
Harvest in the Southern part of the State is going very well with yields above contract at this time.
In the Northern part of the State harvest began on July 17th with volumes increasing last weekend. So far in the North the crop looks to be at contract or slightly above in some fields. Overall quality has been good to date with solids performing at this time close to last year’s levels.
CANADA
July saw hot and humid conditions with very scattered showers. Mid-July also brought hazy skies and air quality warnings as wildfire smoke blew down from northwestern Ontario, temporarily diffusing sunlight. Overall, the tomato crop is progressing, though fruit size is running a bit small due to the dry weather. While general disease pressure has stayed relatively low, we have seen some early-season pressure in some fields.
This season, there are 11,977 acres planted (c. 4850 hectares), with 571,560 short tons (518,500 metric tonnes) contracted. The harvest is set to begin mid-August.
JAPAN
Surfaces planted and total volume to be processed are the same with the last report. Precipitation levels from April to June 2026 exceeded the seasonal average. Consequently, there was minimal damage from issues such as drought, and crop growth has generally proceeded smoothly.
SOUTH AFRICA
The current estimation is for 120,000 tonnes in 2026, down 7,7% on the earlier volume expectations of 130,000 tonnes. More than 60% of volumes are already delivered and the deliveries are picking up, as the cool winter condition comes to an end. The bulk of the harvest should reach the factories within the next 8 weeks and then the season will slow down ending in October.
Source: WPTC
