Preserved tomatoes, harvest in crisis due to bad weather. But consumption holds

Too much rain in the north and too much drought in the south: and so the 2024 marketing year for industrial tomatoes went into the red. "In both production basins there has been a deterioration in agricultural yields, and above all in industrial yields, because it has been necessary to use larger quantities of raw material to guarantee high quality standards," says Marco Serafini, president of the Anicav. trade association.

Final production was 5.3 million tonnes, down 2.5% compared to 2023, but 10% lower than planned. And in the northern regions, the largest production district, it was -15%, stopping at 2.4 million tonnes of tomatoes sent for processing. This is the lowest quantity in decades, despite a campaign with a record duration, as harvesting and processing operations began on 18 July and ended on 8 November. During these long 113 days, due to the adverse weather conditions, the plants worked hiccup and not at full capacity, which also caused an increase in industrial costs.

"The year 2024 will be remembered as a bad year for industrial tomato production in northern Italy, with serious economic difficulties for farmers who, despite the price negotiated with the producer organisations (135-140 euros per tonne, ed.), are experiencing a collapse in income, and with industrial costs also rising. That is why we have asked the ministry and the regions torecognise compensatory measures in favour of the farmers and processing companies that have been damaged, so that they can face the investments of the next 2025 campaign," explains Tiberio Rabboni, president of the North Italian Interprofessional Tomato Industry Organisation.

In the most difficult year in memory for the processing tomato sector even a leading company like Mutti (665 million euro revenues 2023 and 100 million industrial investments planned for the period 2024-2028) has granted extraordinary aid to the more than 800 farmers it works with in the north and south of Italy.

"We wanted to reward the commitment required by this challenging campaign by disbursinga 7 million euro incentive, the highest in our entire history," explains Francesco Mutti, managing director of the company, where in recent months 565 thousand tonnes of raw material have been processed, most of which will be destined for export. A "total tomato company", Mutti is present in over 100 countries and achieves 56% of its sales in volume and 53% of its sales in value on foreign markets (353 million euro in 2023), thanks to annual double-digit trends. This growth is in line with Italy's role as the world's leading exporter of peeled tomatoes, tomato pulp and tomato puree.