The 2025 Italian tomato processing season concluded with a planted area of 78,695 hectares, yielding a total output of 5.8 million tons, slightly higher than 2024 but still about 10% below the planned production.

Italy has regained its position as the world's second-largest tomato processing country after the United States, surpassing China. China's production has declined significantly in recent years, primarily due to difficulties in maintaining overseas market share. In terms of specific data, central and southern Italy processed 2.71 million tons of tomatoes (a 5.3% decrease from 2024), while the northern region processed 3.12 million tons (a 27.6% increase from the previous year).

The industry had to contend with a substantial rise in tomato prices, exceeding budget expectations. In the northern region, high sugar content (Brix) led to an increase in payment indices, with raw material prices surpassing negotiated rates. Meanwhile, in central and southern Italy, particularly in the Foggia area, tomato prices soared by up to 40% above planned averages due to water supply challenges and irregularities in raw material procurement.

This season was also marked by a decline in agricultural yields, recording the worst performance in the past five years. For Italy’s signature whole peeled tomato products, reduced agricultural and industrial yields resulted in a production decrease of over 20%.

"The just-concluded processing season was particularly long and complex," said Marco Serafini, President of ANICAV. "The delayed ripening of raw materials extended the processing period. Especially in central and southern Italy, companies were unable to operate at full capacity, resulting in significant losses in economies of scale. Additionally, the increase in tomato prices (the highest globally) has caused market distortions, severely threatening the stability of the sector. Therefore, the priority will be to rebalance the value across the entire supply chain, ensuring fair compensation for agriculture, industry, and large-scale distribution, while investing in innovation and research to enhance agricultural and industrial output, increase productivity, reduce production costs, optimize water and energy consumption, and make harvesting operations in the Apulia region more efficient."

"The industry is facing the often challenging situation in export markets and the test of U.S. customs policies," said Giovanni De Angelis, General Manager of ANICAV. "Restoring dialogue between the agricultural and industrial sectors remains a priority. Inter-industry cooperation is still a useful and essential tool, but in central and southern regions, due to difficulties in dialogue between the two sides, such cooperation is hard to initiate. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine the scope of responsibilities and operational models for inter-industry relations, where framework agreements remain an indispensable core element. We have requested Masaf to establish an institutional framework to develop clear and binding rules. Without a well-defined set of rules, it is difficult to imagine reaching an agreement in the next processing season."

From Xingjiang Tomato,China