After China Europe is the most important market for tomatoes. The European Union produce on average almost 16 million tons of tomatoes annually. Of this about 7 million tons is for direct sales and 9 million tons for processing.
Spain (2 million tons), Italy (1,1 million tons) and the Netherlands (0,7 million tons) are the countries with the highest percentages of tomatoes grown for direct sales. Spain, which still has its first place experienced a decrease of 50,000 tons over the last 10 years. Italy as well has a decrease in the production of tomatoes. In 2001 this was 0,4 million tons more than in 2010. The production in the Netherlands increased from 500,000 tons to 700,000 tons. Also the Netherlands took the place of Spain since 2008 as first exporter of Europe.
In addition to these countries France and Poland also supply a considerable part of the total European tomato production. In France the production of tomatoes for direct selling is 530,000 tons (70,000 tons less than in 2006), which is about the same as the Polish production.
Source: Fresh Plaza – Annual Tomato Production Europe: 16 Million Tons
