News
In March 2026, we published the following articles:
- CFT has completed the installation of a second tomato processing line for Egypt’s Karry Food Industries, bringing the facility to 1,200 tons/day — the highest installed processing capacity currently operating in the country.
- Italy has launched the €9 million TEA4IT project, coordinated by CREA, to advance the field validation of New Genomic Techniques in agriculture.
- Serbian processed tomato producer Polimark has led Serbia’s accession to AMITOM as an associate member in January 2026, positioning the country as an active participant in the global tomato processing industry.
- Tomato Paste Prices, March 2026: Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, Chile and USA.
- Italian researchers from Janus Pharma have found that Lycoprozen, a patented spray-dried tomato formulation, significantly reduces liver fat accumulation, offering a potential dietary strategy for managing metabolic liver disease.
- WPTC crop update as of 5 March 2026.
- Pakistan’s tomato industry is characterized by a significant gap between agricultural production and industrial processing capacity, with recent local and international initiatives suggesting a gradual shift toward modernization.
- Italy’s Real Sito di Carditello has launched the QUALI-POMORO project to develop and validate sustainable, chemical-free tomato growing protocols in response to increasingly strict EU regulations on synthetic fertilizers and treatments.
- Global Exports of Tomato Paste, updated March 12, 2026.
- California’s processing tomato acreage is set to fall for a third consecutive year to its lowest level since 2005, as rising water, fuel and fertilizer costs threaten to eliminate growers’ margins.
- The European Commission has launched TraceMap, an AI-powered tool that integrates data across EU food safety databases to detect fraud and manage foodborne outbreaks faster by automatically mapping complex supply chain connections.
- Colombia’s Rural Development Agency is developing an agro-industrial processing center in Boyacá to help local tomato and onion farmers reduce harvest losses and convert surplus crops into value-added products.
- Heinz Wattie’s has announced the closure of three New Zealand manufacturing facilities as part of a broader Kraft Heinz strategic refocus on condiments and sauces, while import pressure continues to shrink domestic tomato processing volumes in the country.
- A Johns Hopkins study found that while food crops irrigated with treated wastewater do absorb trace pharmaceuticals, these chemicals accumulate mainly in leaves rather than the edible parts of the plant.
- Prices of Canned Tomatoes, March 2026: Italy, Spain, USA, Greece, Portugal.
- California has made compliance agreements on broomrape containment mandatory for all processing tomato growers, haulers and harvesters this season, following a successful voluntary rollout last year, due to the significant economic threat the parasitic weed poses to the state’s industry.
- Burkina Faso has banned fresh tomato exports to redirect its domestic harvest toward a growing network of local processing facilities, signaling a strategic shift from raw material exporter to regional agro-processing hub.
- US Inventories on March 1, 2026 (report)
- Unilever is in active discussions with McCormick & Company over a potential acquisition of its global Foods division, following previously unsuccessful talks with Kraft Heinz.
- The Processing Tomato Industry in Inner Mongolia
- US Inventories on March 1, 2026 (comment)
- Global Imports of Tomato Products, updated March 26, 2026.
- SSICA has given particular attention to the study of the Alternaria genus and the management of contamination from its toxins in the various stages of industrial tomato processing.
- The recently concluded Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement is expected to have significant implications for trade in processed tomato products between the two regions.
- OI Pomodoro Nord Italia: the area framework agreement has been reached and the average reference price has been set at €137/ton ex-field.
- As the 2026 Northern Hemisphere tomato season begins, the industry faces a new climate challenge: not drought, but unpredictable “weather whiplash” driven by the transition from La Niña, bringing poorly timed rainfall that disrupts both growing and processing operations.
- Morning Star Tomato Bites: this pre-season outlook covers the early groundwork of the 2026 processing tomato season.
You can find the individual articles in the NEWS list and/or search by keyword, date etc.
