Tomato processing in ITALY
Italy is the biggest tomato processor within AMITOM. With an average over the past three
years of 4 900 000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes processed, Italy accounts for more than 45 %
of AMITOM tonnage. Since the creation of AMITOM in 1978/79, Italian production has more
than doubled, the biggest increase in Europe after Spain.
The cultivation of processing tomatoes is possible in many parts of Italy, but three regions
account for almost 90% of the production:
* Puglia, with more than 50%;
* Emilia-Romagna, with 30%
* Campania, with about 8%.
1 - Southern Italy
The Puglia region produces more than half of Italy’s processing tomatoes. It is an area
where few factories have been set up, so tomatoes have to be transported by lorry to
processing plants in Campania, 200 to 300 km away. The main production zone in Puglia is
around Foggia, but processing tomatoes are also grown further south around Bari and
Brindisi.
The Foggia area is a large plain with soils alternating between a predominance of clay and
a predominance of sand. North of Foggia, tomatoes are mainly produced for paste,
whereas in the south they are grown primarily for canned peeled tomatoes. The climate
varies between extremes, with frequent frost in the early Spring, and scorching heat with
very little rain in the Summer. Frequent winds often wither the plants and increase water
requirements, but they have the advantage of improving the health condition of the plants,
reducing the risk of bacterial diseases. Water is plentiful but rather expensive to use, which
is why drip irrigation is particularly developed in that zone. Sprinklers are the most common
alternative to drip systems.
The size of farms growing processing tomatoes is variable. Some farms grow 2 to 3
hectares of tomatoes on ten hillside hectares, which are then harvested manually. Other
farms in the flat plains cover several hundred hectares including a hundred hectares of
tomatoes. Growers have set up cooperatives, themselves part of larger Organizations of
Producers, whose main task is to make joint offers and sign contracts with processing firms.
They also supply seeds, fertilizers and other treatments, and own harvesters.
The main varieties for tomato paste are now almost exclusively hybrids : Perfect Peel,
Snob, Isola, Alange, Amur. For peeled tomatoes, only hybrids are now being used: Hypeel
244, Italpeel, Calroma, Logan, RedPeel, Inca, Ulisse. In the Campania region, the
traditional variety has been awarded the protected origin label : "pomodoro San Marzano
dell'agro Sarnese Nocerino".
Direct seeding is rare and only used for the cultivation of paste tomatoes, which are sown
with precision sowing machines using coated seeds. For peeling tomatoes, all the acreage
is planted with plug seedlings. Tomatoes for paste (30% of the volume) are all machine
harvested, but those for the production of canned tomatoes are mostly harvested manually,
although machine harvesting is developing rapidly. In the largest farms which use drip
irrigation, yields often exceed 100 t/ha with 75 t/ha on average.
2 - Northern Italy
Processing tomatoes are mainly grown around Parma and Piacenza, but also in small
areas around Ferrara and north of the Po.
Soils near Parma and Piacenza are predominantly clay, with sandy-clay in Ferrara and silt
north of the Po. The climate is ideal for tomato cultivation with notably a big difference
between day and night-time temperatures, producing a good color in the fruit. There is a
risk of late drought and of hail storms.
The production of processing tomatoes in this region is completely mechanized and
controlled by experts.
The use of hybrids is almost complete with Perfectpeel, Guadalete, Pavia, Falcorosso,
Isola, Trayan, H9478, etc. UC82 is the only open pollinated variety still used, but with less
and less quantities.
Plug-seeding transplants are becoming generalized (90%), but direct seeding is still used
(10%), using precision seeders.
Irrigation is still partly applied by sprinklers, with coiled hose water guns, but drip irrigation,
but drip irrigation becomes widespread. The harvest is totally mechanized with selfpropelled Italian harvesters. Farm yields are 65 t/ha on average.
In northern Italy, the farm price in 2001 and 2002 was around 45 euro per tonne (field
departure), which makes tomato farming a profitable agricultural activity.
In 2001, the production in northern Italy (including Tuscan and Umbria) amounted to 2,4 /
2,5 million tonnes of raw tomatoes. It means that for the first time in 2001, the production in
northern Italy exceeded the southern one.
40 % of raw tomatoes are processed by co-operative factories, and 60 % by private
companies which are members of AIIPA.
The processing threshold allocated by EU is 4 350 000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes. This
volume is significantly lower than the needs of the Italian industry as it has steadily been
exceeded by at least 10% over last years, particularly in 1999.
ANNEE
1978/79
1979/80
1980/81
1981/82
1982/83
1983/84
1984/85
1985/86
1986/87
1987/88
1988/89
1989/90
1990/91
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
99/2000
2000/01
2001/02
YEAR
Production totale
de tomates
(1000 tonnes)
3 821
5 132
5 023
4 289
4 248
4 550
6 564
5 934
5 370
4 860
4 568
5 730
5 469
5 798
5 483
5 223
5 259
4 786
5 156
5 539
5 369
5 400
6 991
6 991
Total tomato
production
('000 tonnes)
Production de
tomates transformées
(1000 tonnes)
2 220
3 477
2 962
3 007
3 038
4 183
5 765
3 899
2 917
2 928
3 131
3 857
3 560
3 426
3 222
3 505
3 683
3 535
4 198
3 665
4 352
4 932
4 835
4 806
Processing tomato
production
('000 tonnes)
Evolution du
volume transformé
(index 100 en 1978)
100%
157%
133%
135%
137%
188%
260%
176%
131%
132%
141%
174%
160%
154%
145%
158%
166%
159%
189%
165%
196%
222%
218%
216%
Evolution of the
processed volume
(index 100 in 1978)
Evolution du
volume transformé
(en % AMITOM)
40,00%
50,60%
44,10%
45,60%
45,70%
51,10%
54,10%
44,60%
48,20%
46,60%
44,90%
42,50%
40,40%
41,90%
44,20%
46,40%
41,40%
37,60%
37,90%
42,90%
39,60%
40,10%
44,18%
46,78%
Evolution of the
processed volume
(in % AMITOM)
Evolution du prix
des tomates fraiches
(US$/100kg bord champ)
6,61
6,41
6,18
9,21
9,29
9,03
7,86
7,73
9,09
10,14
10,16
9,35
11,72
10,81
12,25
9,36
10,04
12,84
12,4
10,4
10,23
9,16
8,4
7,8
Evolution of the price
of fresh tomatoes
(US$/100kg farm gate)
Total EU 15
TOTAL
EXPORTATIONS ITALIENNES
IMPORTATIONS ITALIENNES
EXPORTS FROM ITALY
IMPORTS INTO ITALY
1999/2000
1998/99
1997/98
1999/2000
1998/99
1997/98
Concentré de tomate/Tomato paste (codes 20029031 & 20029039) & (codes 20029091 & 20029099)
174 518
173 593
141 110
17 548
26 441
34 252
362 627
365 314
234 318
65 760
81 219
99 157
Total EU 15
TOTAL
Purée de tomate/Tomato puree (<12%) (codes 20029011 & 20029019)
102 806
110 142
103 213
10 778
9 578
128 834
128 107
120 096
10 832
9 691
6 337
6 347
Total EU 15
TOTAL
Conserves de tomate/Canned tomatoes (codes 20021010 & 20021090)
494 547
545 254
472 840
1 153
2 541
814 135
797 194
675 025
2 092
3 002
3 002
3 067
Sauces & ketchup/Sauces & ketchup (code 21032000)
35 818
33 910
28 265
5 664
44 920
41 301
35 768
6 506
3 741
3 792
(tonnes)
Total EU 15
TOTAL
(source: EUROSTAT)
4 743
5 756