French tomato production trends set to continue

Production of French tomatoes for the fresh market is expected to rise, while production for the processed market is expected to drop. Fresh market production is estimated at 632,000 tonnes for 2005, while production for processing is expected to fall to 200,000 tonnes. The decline of production of tomatoes for processing has been accelerated by the acquisition of leading French processor Le Cabanon by Chinese company Chalkis, with an increase in the amount of Chinese tomatoes imported for processing.