This has been revealed by Hortoinfo's analysis of the global tomato trade in 2016, with data from the United Nations Statistics Division (COM), COMTRADE and the Eurostat statistical service (ICEX-Eurostat) under code 0702 (fresh and chilled tomatoes) of the Tariff Integrated of the European Communities (TARIC).
Mexico, which heads the ranking of world's largest tomato exporters, does not compete with the rest of the countries, since almost one hundred percent of its exports go to the United States of America. Therefore, this analysis is limited to the big world exporters that do compete with Spain in the European markets, i.e. the Netherlands, Morocco, Turkey, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy.
The Netherlands
In 2016, the Netherlands exported 982.27 million kilos of tomatoes; 12.68 percent of the world's total. The revenue generated from the sale of tomatoes abroad reached 1,445.16 million Euro, with an average price of 1.471 Euro per kilo.
The Netherlands shipped 413.21 million kilos to Germany, 159.9 to the United Kingdom, 55.61 to Sweden, 54.89 to Italy and 37.62 million kilos to Poland. It also sold 27.82 million kilos of tomatoes to Spain in 2016.
Spain
In 2016, Spanish tomato exports to the world amounted to 907.62 million kilos, or 12.19 percent of the world's total. This figure entails a -4.46 percent drop compared to the volume exported in 2015. The value of Spanish tomato exports in 2016 was 959.79 million Euro, with an average price of 1.057 Euro per kilo.
239.18 million kilos of Spanish tomatoes had Germany as destination, 138.37 were shipped to the United Kingdom, 129.53 to France, 112.67 to the Netherlands and 62.67 to Poland.
Morocco
The volume of tomatoes exported by Morocco in 2016 was 524.91 million kilos; an increase of 25.78 percent compared to the previous year. Moroccan tomato exports account for 7.05% of the world's total, with 460.09 million Euro generated and an average price of 0.877 Euro per kilo.
The breakdown by countries of Morocco's fresh tomato sales in 2016 is as follows: 338.51 million kilos to France, 110.2 to Russia, 20.82 to the UK, 19.9 to Spain and 8.99 million kilos to Mauritania. Noteworthy is the 80 percent increase in Moroccan tomato exports to Russia and the -61.24 percent drop of its exports to the Netherlands.
Turkey
The total volume of tomatoes exported by Turkey in 2016 was 486.03 million kilos, 6.53 percent of the world's total; a -10.22 percent drop compared to the volume exported in 2015. In 2016, Turkey's tomato shipments generated 216.75 million Euro, with an average price of 0.446 Euro per kilo.
In 2015, the main customer of Turkish fresh tomatoes was Russia, which purchased 337.42 million kilos, 62.28 percent of the total sales. The veto imposed by Russia on tomato imports from Turkey, with zero kilos sold in 2016, has led to these exports being diverted to other countries. The main customer for Turkish tomatoes in 2016 has been Iraq, with an increase of 166.8 percent and a volume of 89.62 million kilos. Belarus has increased its purchases of Turkish tomatoes by 628.86 percent, with a total of 86.88 million kilos. Saudi Arabia has bought 61 million kilos (+69.54%), Georgia imported 56.91 million kilos (+244.49%) and Ukraine 33.49 million kilos, which is 185.75% more than when Russia was buying directly from Turkey.
Sales in the European Union
The total volume of tomatoes purchased by the European Union in 2016 was 3,036.06 million kilos worth 3,785.08 million Euro.
The Netherlands has been the country that has supplied the most tomatoes to other EU Member States, with a volume of 939.10 million kilos worth 1,324.82 million Euro.
Spain has ranked second, with a volume of 788.79 million kilos worth 986.88 million Euro.
Together, Spain and the Netherlands have supplied more than half of the tomatoes bought by the EU Member States, 56.91 percent of the total.
The third largest supplier of tomatoes to the EU in terms of volume has been Morocco, with 393.97 million kilos worth 417.34 million Euro.
Both the Netherlands and Spain have reduced their sales of tomatoes to other EU countries compared to the previous year, while Morocco has been one of the few suppliers that has increased them.
Source: hortoinfo.es