A hypothetical ranking of the world's largest fresh tomato exporters would be occupied by Mexico, the Netherlands and Spain (in this order), according to data processed by Hortoinfo and supplied by the Statistics Division of the United Nations (UN).
These top three countries account for almost half of the world's exports of fresh tomatoes, with 43.67 percent of the 8,286.6 million kilos shipped in 2014.
Mexico exported 1,537.95 million kilos; the Netherlands, 1,126.5 million; Spain, 954.82 million (Almeria, 551.37); Turkey, 585.48; Jordan, 517.21, and Morocco exported 485.42 million kilos of tomatoes.
Destinations
As for the main customers for each country, in 2014 Mexico shipped most of its fresh tomatoes to the United States, which received 1,509.96 million kilos.
The Netherlands allocated 458.67 million kilos to Germany, 194.44 million to the UK, 63.71 to Sweden, 51.13 to Italy and 46.38 million kilos to Belgium. Russia received 29.77 million kilos of fresh tomatoes from the Netherlands; Spain, 25.84; the United Arab Emirates, 2.84, and the United States, 207,000 kilos.
As for Spanish tomato exports, 218.06 million kilos had Germany as a destination, 141.66 million kilos were shipped to France, the UK received 135.56 million, 106.55 went to the Netherlands and 60.41 to Poland. 26.34 million kilos of Spanish tomatoes went to Russia, 108,000 kilos to the United Arab Emirates, 60,000 kilos were exported to Morocco and 30,000 kilos went to the U.S.
The main customer for Turkish fresh tomatoes was Russia, to which Turkey sold 352.82 million kilos. Iraq received 43.48 million kilos, and Ukraine 37.63 million kilos. In Germany it sold 3.11 million kilos and the Netherlands purchased 2.84 million kilos.
Jordan directed its fresh tomato exports mainly to neighbouring countries. To the UAE it sold 113.37 million kilos; to Saudi Arabia, 83.02 million; to Iraq, 82.27; to Kuwait, 75.61, and to Qatar it exported 52.97 million kilos.
For its part, Morocco exported 332.32 million kilos of fresh tomatoes to France; Russia received 60.98 million; The United Kingdom imported 36.75 million; the Netherlands, 16.88 million and Spain received 10.77 million kilos of Moroccan tomatoes.
Destinations for Almeria
Of Almeria's total fresh tomato exports in 2014, which amounted to 551.37 million kilos, 140.89 went to Germany, 84.37 to France; 54.05 to the United Kingdom; 53.31 to the Netherlands and 50.62 million kilos were shipped to Poland. It also exported 5.71 million kilos to Russia, 93,600 kilos to the United Arab Emirates, 30,355 kilos to the United States and 4,913 to Hong Kong, as well as to other destinations both in the EU and outside.
Other major Spanish exporting provinces were Murcia, with 129.49 million kilos of tomatoes and Granada, with 79.49 million kilos.
Source: hortoinfo.es