Reader’s Digest: February 2024

In February 2024, we published the following articles:

• The French competition authority fined three professional canning associations, a can manufacturer's trade union and 11 companies, for a total of nearly 20 million Euros, for practices intended to prevent competition on the presence of absence of Bisphenol A in food containers.
• The Brazilian association Tomate BR provided an overview of the past harvest and is hopeful for the 2024 season.
• The Western Europe market for tomato products represents more than 9.5 million tonnes of finished products, as data from Euromonitor shows.
• A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, shows the role of exodermal suberin produced by the tomato plants in order to better cope with water stress.
• Global Exports of Tomato Paste, updated February 6, 2024.
• The Interbranch Organization of Northern Italy organizes a conference on fair competition at Tomato World in Piacenza on February 15.
• The Californian snowpack is growing since January, but it remains below average so far, at 55%.
• Spanish exports have seen a surge in value. In contrast, the quantities processed have significantly reduced, due to climatic difficulties.
• Researchers developed methods for leaf disease identification in tomatoes, using image-processing technology, particularly deep learning.  The experiment introduced a Cross-layer Attention Fusion Mechanism combined with a Multiscale Convolution Method (MC-UnNet), which was concluded as suitable for tomato leaf disease segmentation.
• Main points from the report on the Italian processing tomato sector published by the Italian Institute ISMEA (Istituto di Servizi per il Mercato Agricolo Alimentare). (part 1 & 2)
• The benchmark EU Allowance (EUA) carbon contract is at its lowest level since March 2022, at 58.50 Euros/metric tonne.
• Prices of Canned Tomatoes, February 2024: Italy, Spain, USA, Greece, Portugal.
• The AgriLoop consortium is organizing a webinar on developing high value products from agricultural residues, on March 6th.
• Morning Start kicks off 2024 and prepares for planting in March.
• The Italian MD launched a new private label "Buona Spesa Italia" (Good Shopping, Italy) as a promise for the best possible price for guaranteed quality.
• Euromonitor forecasts a growth of over 3% for the Global Pasta Sauces Market.
• Interview with Greg Pruett, CEO of Ingomar.
• During Tomato World, Italian representatives from the processing industry presented their proposal for more standardization at a European level, such as the obligation to indicate the origin of tomato, the adoption of the principle of reciprocity of trade rules for imported products.
• The AgriTech start up Salicrop developed a seed enhancement technology, non-GMO, that strengthens seeds' resilience to abiotic stresses, thereby boosting crop cultivation in arid regions.
• Global Imports of Tomato Products, updated February 23, 2023.
• NRGene Technologies Ltd established a new subsidiary, Supree, which specializes in developing self-drying fruits and vegetables. Their first product is a semi-dried tomato variety.
• WPTC first global forecast for 2024
• Italia Ortofrutta-Unione Nazionale, in collaboration with a dozen Producers' Organizations, is supporting a research project entitled "Integrated applied research project to tackle the main critical problems of tomato-based industrial products".
• Euromonitor data on the North American market for tomato products.
• The Red Sea crisis is threatening the Italian processing tomato sector, which exports around 60% of its production.

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