Reader’s Digest December 2018

In December 2018, we published the following articles:
 

• In Australia, Coca-Cola Amatil decided to sell its fruit and vegetable processing business, SPC, following a strategic review of the company.
• A dossier on unfair trading practices reports progress on framework of trading practices in Europe and the issue of electronic reverse auctions.
• In Iran, the ban on tomato paste exports has now been lifted.
• In Spain, the CTAEX hosted the 1^st Forum on the Technology of Tomato Processing, which objective was to take up the technological challenges, as well as to promote relationships between operators, growers and research scientists.
• The SCRI Grafting Project Team has organized a grafting webinar series, with the next monthly webinar happening on the 31^st January, on the topic of "Use of Vegetable Grafting for Soil-Borne Disease Management".
• Young researcher: Alexandre Arbex de Castro Vilas Boas defended his PhD thesis "how to control the quality of the processing tomato? Impact of water deficit, genotype and processes on the final quality of processed products" on December 17 at INRA Avignon.
• In California, some highlights from the final PTAB report: 11.137 million mT, in slightly less than 473 000 deliveries, at an average of 23.5 mT per delivery.
• Italian, Californian and Chinese Tomato Paste Prices, December 2018.
• Olam Ghana has been adjudged as the best company in Agriculture and Agribusiness sector for 2017.
• Researchers from the University of Costa Rica have created a TYLCV (tomato yellow leaf curl virus) resistant variety of tomato, using biotechnological tools to carry out the process.
•  The first Tomato News Conference will take place in Avignon on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 May 2019, marking the 40^th anniversary of AMITOM and the 30^th anniversary of the first AMITOM Congress, as well as the birth of the Tomato News magazine.
• In Cuba, tomato harvest has started and 2.000 tonnes of tomatoes have already been processed.
• In Italy, the ANICAV commissioned a study "Analysis of industrial costs in the canned tomato sector", which was presented during the 6^th edition of the "Filo Rosso del Pomodoro", on 30^th November.
• In California, the paste production industry is in a situation of over capacity this year.
• It is now possible to analyze cultivar resistance to diseases at seedling stage for a range of threats, using plant metabolomics and statistical modeling.
• A EU-Japan trade deal (the first ever bilateral agreement between EU and Japan) is to enter into force on 1 February, creating an open trading zone covering almost one-third of the world's total GDP
• Negotiations between the EU council and the European Commission have raised to 350 million Euros the turnover threshold, with regards to the protection of agri-food companies against unfair commercial practices.
• Although exports continue to increase in Spain, the turnover results are unsatisfactory: uneven progress for paste, decline in canned tomato exports and stagnating turnover in sauces.

 
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