January 3 2007, 13:07

Tomato production beats records in China

According to information provided by the analysts of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, tomato production in China in 2006 will beat all previous records, according to the tentative estimations. The experts of USDA FAS think that more than 32 mln. tons of tomatoes were harvested in China in 2006. It is more than 25% of world tomato production.

The most part of tomatoes is still consumed fresh in China as before. Despite of this fact, tomato production for processing continues to dynamically grow.

According to the forecast, 15% more tomatoes for commercial processing will be harvested in China in 2006. So, this country will produce around 600,000 tons of tomato paste in a new season; 85-90% of this stock will be exported. Nevertheless, the volumes of tomato paste export from China can decrease this season due to the growth of the inner consumption of this product in the country.

According to assessments of the analysts of the Agricultural Marketing Project, tomato production in Ukraine also reached the top record in 2006; the gross harvest was around 1.5 mln. tons. This fact resulted in the dramatic price decrease for tomatoes on freshmarket and on market of tomatoes for commercial processing. The production growth let Ukraine be one of 14 largest tomato producers in the world for the first time in the history. Ukraine outpaced such countries as Germany, Romania and Great Britain. China and USA keep the position of the world leaders of tomato production; they provide more than 35% of world production. Egypt, India, Turkey, Italy, Iran, Brazil, Russia, Spain, France, Mexico and Greece follow the leaders with a great breakaway.