Tomatoes are the superlative vegetable: global per capita consumption is 20 kilograms per year

FAOstat 2014

UN Comtrade 2014, * not included in "processed"

On a global scale, tomatoes are the most important vegetable crop with about 160 million tonnes produced in 2011, or about 15 % of total vegetable production.

According to FAO statistics, world vegetable production has quintupled over the past five decades to reach about one billion tonnes of vegetables. Considering population growth, this has resulted in a doubling of the per capita consumption of vegetables from approximately 50 kg in 1963 to 102 kg in 2009. In the same period, tomato consumption increased from 7.5 kg to 20.5 kg / year / per capita, either fresh or processed, on world average.

With 159 kg per year, Asia is the world leader in vegetable consumption, while Latin America ranks last with a per capita consumption of only 55 kg per year. However, tomato consumption in these regions of the world is very similar with 14 to 17 kg per year. Europe and North America have about the same level of vegetable consumption with 120 kg per year. North Americans consume a record 42 kg of tomatoes per year, much of it as sauce for pizza and pasta, while Europeans consume about 31 kg per capita and year – with the exception of Italy, where tomato consumption reaches 60 kg per year (FAO stat).

The top five tomato producers are China, India, the USA, Turkey and Egypt, representing about 60 % of the world production. Yet, according to the United Nations international trade statistics, UN Comtrade, Mexico is the leading exporter of fresh tomatoes, followed by the Netherlands and Spain. The USA, despite its high level of production, is the leading importer of fresh tomatoes, followed by Russia and Germany. With regard to processed tomatoes – mainly paste, canned or other preserved tomatoes - Italy clearly dominates exports, even over China. The third category of tomato products listed in the international trade statistics is tomato ketchup or other tomato sauces not included in the “processed” category, however with much smaller trade volumes.

The overview of producing and exporting countries demonstrates the great diversity in production conditions between the competitors on global tomato markets. Tomatoes are produced in open fields, in greenhouses or under plastic covers; in tropical, subtropical and temperate climates, and with machine harvesting (for processing) or manual harvesting (for fresh markets).

In light of this diversity, the agri benchmark Horticulture network has started to work on the international comparison of tomato for production systems and to identify trends and drivers in the production of this globally very important vegetable.

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