The world’s largest industrial tomato processors are meeting in Budapest

By: STA Date: 2024. 06. 11. 09:30

The biggest players in the global industrial tomato processing and production sector have arrived in Budapest for the 15th World Congress and 17th Symposium of the World Industrial Tomato Council (WPTC) and the International Horticultural Society (ISHS), announced Univer Product Zrt., the main sponsor of the event, together with MTI on Tuesday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to a statement from the largest Central European tomato processing company, around 400 professionals came to the event, which lasted from Sunday to Wednesday. The industry’s globally dominant actors, research specialists and data analysts will all appear at the conference. Among others, Bayer Vegetable Seeds, Tomato Europe, Euromonitor, the University of Aarhus or the Davis School of Education of the University of California will present. According to the plans, new and emerging agricultural trends will be reviewed and analyzed, and the situation of the global tomato industry will be analyzed. The latest innovations in the field of processing will be on the table, and the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence will also be covered – they wrote. It was announced: worldwide, the annual production of fresh tomatoes amounts to approximately 180 million tons. A quarter of this volume is grown directly for the processing industry, making tomatoes one of the world’s leading vegetables for processing. According to the data compiled by the WPTC, around 39-41 million tons of tomatoes are processed annually in plants belonging to the largest brands in the global food industry.

Recent research conducted by Euromonitor for the organization places the world’s tomato processing sector at around 150 billion euros in production value, and according to forecasts, this will exceed 160 billion euros by the end of 2027.

The largest processor in the world is the United States, including California, as well as China and Italy. Hungary is also on the “paradise map” of the world: according to the organization’s data, the weight of the domestic industry of around 110,000 tons in 2023 is 50,000 tons less than the performance of the French industry. This makes it the 10th largest tomato processing country in Europe. More than 90 percent of the world’s crops are processed in the northern hemisphere. South of the equator, Chile is the only country where 1 million tons or more are processed. The sector is highly concentrated: the ten largest states account for around 83 percent of the world’s annual production.

MTI

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