Reader’s Digest – October 2022

 In October 2022, we published the following articles:

• Paste & Juice is organizing a tomato forum during the SIAL, titled "Processing Tomato 330 days/Year" and welcoming all people in the industry to attend.
• California Crop Situation as of 1 October 2022.
• WPTC Crop Update as of 30 September 2022.
• Mintec Commodity price movements report from September 2022.
•  In Argentina, le 22/23 season began with transplanting operations beginning of September, with more surface areas than last year.
• In Italy, Princes Industrie Alimentari's CEO confirmed their commitment to sustainability in all its dimensions, environmental, social and economic.
• In California, UC Davis and the California Tomato Research Institute (CTRI) have been working closely to develop informational resources about the risks of spreading pests and diseases, such as broomrape, by the harvesters, and how to limit those by effective equipment sanitation.
• The programs of ANICAV and Tomato News Joint Event, Il Filo Rosso del Pomodoro and the Tomato News Conference, have been published and registrations have opened.
• The 2022 tomato-processing season is finished in Northern Italy with a good production, yields above average and high quality.
• California Crop Situation as of 8 October 2022.
• Global Imports of Tomato Products, updated 11 October 2022.
• Italian opening prices are up to 75% increase compared to last year for some products. However, the main problem could very well be availability of products until the next season, as the stocks have completely dried up.
• World Paste Trade in 2021/2022: trade is down compared to last year, but up compared to the pre-Covid period.
• In Canada, growers and processors are happy with this year's crop in the Leamington area, the best at least since 2014.
• WPTC Crop Update as of 14 October 2022.
• California Crop Situation as of 15 October 2022.
• Paste Prices, October 2022: USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, Chile.
• In California, grocery store inflation is up 13.5% and the drought is pushing tomatoes and other crops further. Officials are now actively planning for another dry year in 2023.
• In Italy, quantities processed this year were slightly higher than expected, with good quality. However the consumers will be hit with an unavoidable price increase.
• In France, INRAE researchers are looking for organic waste that can become new sources of energy, such as tomato skins, which are tin, hydrophobic and stretchable. They are now developing solutions to create biodegradable and recyclable elastomers.
• DXAS, a joint venture between Kagome and NEC, is aiming to provide AI farming advice and automated irrigation control services.
• California is preparing for another drought, which would make it 4 in a row. Though nothing can be certain at this stage, California is already entering the next year with a deep water deficit.
• The US ban only had a limited impact on Chinese exports of tomato products, as the US does not import tomato products from Xinjiang.
• Researchers from ITQB NOVA (Portugal) and INRAE (France) were able to extract bactericidal mixtures from tomato peels in a short and sustainable process.
• The processing season in Italy closed with a 10% drop compared with last year's results and ANICAV is asking politics to help protect the tomato industry and create the conditions for development and growth.
• In France, various INRAE teams are studying the benefits of tomatoes on human health. Those benefits depend however on many factors and a clinical study should begin in 2024.
• After 2 years online, the Tomato News Conference happened in person, during CibusTec Forum and in cooperation with ANICAV's Il Filo Rosso Conference, with more than 350 people attending both events. 
• WPTC members met in Parma on Tuesday 25 October for their annual end-of-season meeting to establish the WPTC 2022 preliminary world production estimate which now stands at 37,257 million tonnes.

You can find the individual articles in the NEWS list and/or search by keyword, date etc.