The Foreign Agricultural Markets Monitoring Team (FAMMU/FAPA) has cited recent data released by Freshfel on the global market for vegetables in 2013.
In total, the world harvested 794.23 million tonnes of vegetables (excluding potatoes) in 2013, which is about 1.7 percent more than in the previous year and over 6 percent greater than the average global vegetable harvest for the period between 2009 and 2013.
Every year, tomatoes are the most harvested vegetable, and in 2013 their production amounted to 130.4 million tonnes. In second place we have cabbage and cucumbers, with 63.9 million tonnes, followed by aubergines, with 44.4 million tonnes, carrots with 33.4 million tonnes, peppers, with 27.8 million tonnes and pumpkins, with 22.1 million tonnes. More than 21 million tonnes of garlic, lettuce and chicory were also harvested.
The world's biggest producer of vegetables, excluding potatoes, is China, with a production in 2013 of more than 420.9 million tonnes. The second largest harvest is that of India, with 88.95 million tonnes, followed by the United States, with 20.8 million tonnes, Turkey, with less than 17.5 million tonnes, Iran, with 13.7 million tonnes and Egypt, with 12.5 million tonnes.
According to these figures, the EU-28 accounted for a total of 48.08 million tonnes of vegetables in 2013, compared to 48.04 million tonnes a year earlier (around 6.4 percent of the total).
Source: fresh-market.pl