Europe: A good September so far

September can be a difficult period for tomato processors with rains and storms often affecting the harvest. This year, however, the first half of September has been good for the EU members of AMITOM and production forecasts could even be exceeded slightly in some countries. 

France
The harvest is progressing well both in the south-east and the south-west with 126,000 tonnes processed at the end of last week. Yield and quality, including brix, are good in both regions and the final volume could be slightly higher than the 190,000 tonnes forecast. No rain is forecast and the harvest should continue until mid-October.
 
Greece
In the south, all factories finished last week after a good season with c. 100,000 tonnes processed in the region. In the centre and north, the harvest continues with good brix but low yields (sometimes down to 20-30 t/ha when 100 t/ha were expected). The harvest will finish by the end of September with a 400,000 tonnes total still expected.
 
Italy
In Northern Italy, already 2.01 million tonnes had been processed as of 3 September with an average brix of 4.74. There were very heavy rainfalls last week and the factories stopped the production for a couple of days and were restarting on 13 September. A few companies have already finished their programs, while the rest planning to run another 2 weeks to complete the programs. The season should end before the end of the month. More rain is forecast next weekend and this can effect negatively the rest of the harvest.
At this stage, a final estimation for more than 2.6 million tonnes is expected for Northern Italy, the increase is mainly due to the high yield per hectare registered. On the other hand, processing yield remains lower than standard conditions mainly due to the low brix of the produce.
 
In Southern Italy, the crop is developing fast and several factories have already closed. As of 3 September, about 2.06 million tonnes had been processed. During last weekend there was some heavy rainfall, but these were low in the tomato growing areas and without important damages.
According to the satellite survey, more than 4,000 ha remain to be harvested, so the volume in the south can reach 2.4 million tonnes, so the final total for Italy should be about 5 million tonnes.
 
Portugal
Over 70% of the forecast had been processed as of the end of last week. The forecast remains for a maximum of 1.5 million tonnes to be processed. 

Spain
In Andalucía the harvest is nearly finished with 2 factories already closed and the last one closing by next week. The season was good, with average yields of 100 t/ha.
In Extremadura after the low production during the first 2-3 weeks in August, conditions and volumes processed have been back to normal in the last few weeks and the good weather should continue until the end of the month. Factories are starting to slow down this week but should continue to process until 20-25 September.
In the Ebro Valley some heavy storms at the end of August have affected fields and lowered yields. Production is now at full capacity and should continue until 20 October.
Due to the good conditions in September total production could now slightly over the 3.2 million tonnes forecast.