Santiago, Chile - 12th World Tomato Congress Concludes

NEXT EDITION in 2018 IN GREECE

Following the great success of the last edition held in Sirmione in 2014 with Pomì as main sponsor, this year the Congress moved to South America, to Santiago, Chile, where it saw the large participation of the most important international companies in the sector.
Representing Italy, Costantino Vaia, general manager of the Casalasco Tomato Consortium, the leading national company and third in Europe in the sector.

The congress saw the participation of international speakers such as Jorge Meza, Senior Forestry Officer of the FAO for Latin America, or Sebastian Edwards, Professor
at the International Business Economics in Los Angeles, who outlined a global picture of future economic trends in terms of development and consumption, emphasizing the importance of commitment to innovation and sustainability.

During the Congress, data on the global tomato market trend also emerged, forecasting a decrease in world production for 2016. In particular, the decline is expected to affect California, which, despite remaining the world's leading processor, should see a decrease of over 13%.
The Mediterranean area, however, is expected to remain substantially stable with volumes in line with the 2015 campaign, while China should register a slight decrease.

"If these forecasts are met," commented Vaia at the end of the proceedings "we should have a situation of substantial balance between consumption and production, with a certain market stability. Furthermore, the persistence of the current exchange rate with the dollar should favor further growth opportunities for exports, particularly to the United States, where through our subsidiary Pomi USA, we closed 2015 with growth of over 10%, consolidating our leadership as a high-quality brand. During the congress," Vaia concluded- it has become clear once again that for companies in this sector, it is vitally important that sustainability and innovation are pillars of their corporate strategy, and from this perspective, I would say our company is on the right track. In the coming months, we will obtain another important certification that will allow us to place a real "identity card" on our product labels, providing an additional guarantee for consumers.