California Crop

This year 262,000 acres of tomatoes have been planted, with a forecasted 13.0 million tons of processed tomatoes being harvested. This represents a decrease of 9.1% from 2015 when 14.4 million tons were harvested.

Harvesting has already begun, the hot weather has allowed for an earlier than usual start this year.

The 2016 crop looks promising. Heat, cold, disease, rain, water availability, transplant quality and a multitude of other factors can always affect the final production and subsequent yields.

2016 will be the year that California inventories come more into balance.

Worldwide Supply & Demand

The global forecast is 42.0 mm (short tons) vs. 45.6 in 2015, a decrease of 7.9%. This is primarily due to the rain and below normal temperatures that Spain and other countries have been experiencing.

The California crop makes up 31% of this total volume. California growers typically have the highest yield and highest solids in the world due to their growing technology and skill.

China is the second largest processing tomato producer worldwide, followed closely by Italy. The other leading producing countries are: Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Iran and Brazil, according to the World Processing Tomato Council.

US Exports

US exports have been negatively impacted by the strong dollar. With Britain leaving the EU, California is waiting to see the impact on further currency results.