Worldwide production of tomato totalled 158,368,530 tonnes in 2009, 3.7% up on the previous year. The top tomato producer in 2009 was China, followed by the United States, Turkey, India, Egypt and Italy. In 2009 China accounted for 24% of worldwide production, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
As mentioned above, the world produced 158,368,530 tonnes of tomato in 2009, an increase of 3.7% in comparison with the 152,577,109 tonnes recorded in 2008. As the graph below shows, over the last decade production of tomato has maintained an upward trend. Indeed, between 2000 and 2009, worldwide production of this crop grew by 28%.
World production of tomato: 2000-2009
As may be observed in the graph, China has been the top tomato producing country for many years, growing 38,213,528 tonnes in 2009, 0.6% up on 2008. Since 2000, this country’s production has increased by 53%.
The number two producer is the United States, which harvested 15,840,173 tonnes of this crop in 2009, 3.1% more than the 15,362,631 tonnes registered in 2008. Over the 10-year period from 2000 to 2009, the United States production grew by 12%.
Other key producers are Turkey, India, Egypt and Italy. In 2009, Turkey produced 12,487,218 tonnes, India12,035,077 tonnes, Egypt 11,201,918 tonnes and Italy 7,147,891 tonnes. Tomato production in Turkey, India and Egypt grew in the course of this 10-year period, whereas production in Italy decreased.
