Year over year, globally exported tomatoes slowed to a 2.1% upturn from $10.2 billion during 2020.
The world’s 5 most lucrative exporters of tomatoes are Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Morocco and France. That powerful group of suppliers sent about two-thirds (67.9%) of all tomatoes sold on international markets in 2021.
That percentage belies a highly concentrated core group of tomato exporters. In fact, the world’s biggest exporter of tomatoes Mexico accounted for almost one quarter (24.3%) of globally exported tomatoes.
At the continent level, European countries sold the highest value for exported tomatoes during 2021 with shipments amounting to $4.7 billion or 45.1% of worldwide exports. North American exporters were responsible for 31.8% worth, while Asian suppliers supplied another 13.1% share trailed by African providers at 9.2%.
Tinier percentages originated from Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Oceania (0.1%) led by New Zealand and Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for fresh or chilled tomatoes is 0702.
Tomatoes Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of tomatoes during 2021.
- Mexico: US$2.5 billion (24.3% of exported tomatoes)
- Netherlands: $2.1 billion (19.7%)
- Spain: $1.2 billion (11%)
- Morocco: $855.8 million (8.2%)
- France: $498.1 million (4.8%)
- Canada: $472.8 million (4.5%)
- China: $387.6 million (3.7%)
- Turkey: $360.5 million (3.4%)
- Belgium: $359.6 million (3.4%)
- United States: $318.5 million (3%)
- Italy: $173.8 million (1.7%)
- Azerbaijan: $160.2 million (1.5%)
- Poland: $89.4 million (0.9%)
- Jordan: $87.7 million (0.8%)
- Portugal: $79 million (0.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 91.7% of global tomatoes exported in 2021 .
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing tomatoes exporters from 2020 to 2021 were: mainland China (up 41.4%), Poland (up 31.3%), Portugal (up 26.2%) and Turkey (up 15.5%).
A trio of international suppliers posted declines in their exported tomatoes sales namely Azerbaijan (down -20.4%), Jordan (down -13.7%) and Mexico (down -2.5%).
Countries Earning Largest Surpluses from Tomatoes Trade
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for fresh or chilled tomatoes during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s tomatoes exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Mexico: US$2.5 billion (net export surplus down -2.5% since 2020)
- Netherlands: $1.7 billion (up 4.6%)
- Spain: $969.4 million (up 8.3%)
- Morocco: $855.8 million (up 11.6%)
- China: $387.6 million (up 41.4%)
- Turkey: $359 million (up 16.7%)
- Belgium: $243.2 million (up 5.1%)
- Azerbaijan: $159.4 million (down -20.5%)
- Canada: $151.2 million (up 8.7%)
- Jordan: $87.5 million (down -13.8%)
- Uzbekistan: $36.1 million (no 2015 data)
- Turkmenistan: $57.5 million (up 52%)
- Tunisia: $51.8 million (up 13.6%)
- Armenia: $40.8 million (up 46.3%)
- Afghanistan: $34 million (reversing a -$16.6 million deficit)
World-leading supplier Mexico has the highest surplus in the international trade of tomatoes. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Mexico’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Facing Worst Deficits from Tomatoes Trade
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for tomatoes during 2021. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s tomatoes import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$2.6 billion (net export deficit down -0.5% since 2020)
- Germany: -$1.6 billion (up 7.5%)
- United Kingdom: -$617.3 million (down -1.7%)
- Russia: -$473.8 million (down -8.6%)
- France: -$319.1 million (up 16.8%)
- Poland: -$229.2 million (up 14.3%)
- Sweden: -$179.3 million (up 9.6%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$159.5 million (up 25.9%)
- Romania: -$132.6 million (up 18%)
- Switzerland: -$108.7 million (up 12.8%)
- Czech Republic: -$107.4 million (up 10.9%)
- Denmark: -$80.8 million (up 7%)
- Finland: -$74.7 million (up 6.3%)
- Norway: -$69.2 million (up 11.5%)
- Austria: -$68.5 million (up 0.5%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of tomatoes. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for tomatoes-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Tomato Exporting Companies
Below are large tomato exporting companies that are major players in international trade. Show within parenthesis is the country where the company is headquartered.
- California Tomato Export Group (United States)
- Campbell Soup Company (United States)
- COFCO Group (China)
- ConAgra Foods (United States)
- Conserve Italia (Italy)
- Empresas Carozzi (Chile)
- Fuyuan Agriculture Products Limited (China)
- Heinz (United States)
- Kagome Co., Ltd. (Japan)
- Morning Star (United States)
- Parmalat SpA (Italy)
- Unilever (United Kingdom)
- Xinjiang Chalkis Co. Ltd (China)
- Xinjiang Tianye Co., Ltd. (China)
Searchable List of Tomatoes Exporting Countries in 2021
The following automated database reveals that there were 115 countries that exported fresh or chilled tomatoes in 2021.
| Rank | Exporter | Tomato Exports (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mexico | $2,538,501,000 | -2.5% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $2,055,096,000 | +7.4% |
| 3. | Spain | $1,154,347,000 | +8% |
| 4. | Morocco | $855,760,000 | +11.6% |
| 5. | France | $498,143,000 | +11.5% |
| 6. | Canada | $472,771,000 | +3.2% |
| 7. | China | $387,617,000 | +41.4% |
| 8. | Turkey | $360,489,000 | +15.5% |
| 9. | Belgium | $359,584,000 | +10.3% |
| 10. | United States | $318,525,000 | +1.8% |
| 11. | Italy | $173,796,000 | +14.2% |
| 12. | Azerbaijan | $160,229,000 | -20.4% |
| 13. | Poland | $89,444,000 | +31.3% |
| 14. | Jordan | $87,654,000 | -13.7% |
| 15. | Portugal | $78,994,000 | +26.2% |
| 16. | Uzbekistan | $59,861,000 | -9.4% |
| 17. | Turkmenistan | $57,461,000 | +51.9% |
| 18. | Germany | $56,555,000 | +40% |
| 19. | Tunisia | $51,963,000 | +12.6% |
| 20. | Syria | $48,068,000 | +37.9% |
| 21. | Armenia | $43,801,000 | +44.5% |
| 22. | Afghanistan | $43,030,000 | -14.6% |
| 23. | Belarus | $34,230,000 | -14.7% |
| 24. | Guatemala | $28,612,000 | +1.3% |
| 25. | India | $27,465,000 | -22.8% |
| 26. | Austria | $27,147,000 | +26.3% |
| 27. | Egypt | $25,746,000 | -36.3% |
| 28. | Malaysia | $25,448,000 | -4.8% |
| 29. | Dominican Republic | $25,382,000 | +16.5% |
| 30. | Albania | $24,564,000 | -34.8% |
| 31. | Bulgaria | $22,329,000 | +64.6% |
| 32. | Iran | $19,563,000 | -94.6% |
| 33. | Hungary | $18,807,000 | +41.2% |
| 34. | Kazakhstan | $16,493,000 | -21.3% |
| 35. | Greece | $14,585,000 | +17.6% |
| 36. | South Korea | $14,379,000 | +14.6% |
| 37. | Senegal | $14,228,000 | -11.5% |
| 38. | Slovakia | $13,104,000 | +21% |
| 39. | Latvia | $12,897,000 | +25.3% |
| 40. | Czech Republic | $12,604,000 | +21.6% |
| 41. | North Macedonia | $11,721,000 | +18.5% |
| 42. | Croatia | $9,278,000 | +5.5% |
| 43. | Pakistan | $9,062,000 | +149.5% |
| 44. | Lithuania | $8,799,000 | -31.6% |
| 45. | South Africa | $8,670,000 | +10.3% |
| 46. | Russia | $8,542,000 | +25.9% |
| 47. | Honduras | $8,105,000 | +4.2% |
| 48. | Ethiopia | $5,491,000 | +34.6% |
| 49. | Ukraine | $5,298,000 | +9.7% |
| 50. | Denmark | $4,854,000 | +12% |
| 51. | United Kingdom | $4,782,000 | -44% |
| 52. | Namibia | $4,582,000 | +69.5% |
| 53. | Serbia | $4,331,000 | +53.2% |
| 54. | Australia | $3,929,000 | +93.8% |
| 55. | New Zealand | $3,211,000 | -52.4% |
| 56. | Georgia | $3,188,000 | +89.8% |
| 57. | Sweden | $2,369,000 | +46.1% |
| 58. | Sri Lanka | $2,098,000 | +4779% |
| 59. | Luxembourg | $1,840,000 | +25.6% |
| 60. | Slovenia | $1,701,000 | -39% |
| 61. | Argentina | $1,522,000 | -23.2% |
| 62. | Ireland | $1,502,000 | +13.4% |
| 63. | Romania | $1,265,000 | -20.6% |
| 64. | United Arab Emirates | $1,144,000 | -81% |
| 65. | Brazil | $946,000 | -36.8% |
| 66. | Thailand | $925,000 | +86.9% |
| 67. | Peru | $872,000 | -28.5% |
| 68. | Finland | $829,000 | -12.2% |
| 69. | Japan | $745,000 | -4.4% |
| 70. | Vietnam | $736,000 | +6.5% |
| 71. | Israel | $662,000 | -23.5% |
| 72. | Kyrgyzstan | $641,000 | +141% |
| 73. | Estonia | $637,000 | +15.2% |
| 74. | Colombia | $549,000 | -4.2% |
| 75. | Nicaragua | $301,000 | +290.9% |
| 76. | Indonesia | $265,000 | -55.1% |
| 77. | Taiwan | $263,000 | -12.9% |
| 78. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $233,000 | +117.8% |
| 79. | Costa Rica | $184,000 | +148.6% |
| 80. | Algeria | $174,000 | -75% |
| 81. | Yemen | $172,000 | +230.8% |
| 82. | Palestine | $155,000 | -96% |
| 83. | Singapore | $141,000 | +24.8% |
| 84. | Iceland | $135,000 | +187.2% |
| 85. | Bangladesh | $96,000 | +2300% |
| 86. | Oman | $87,000 | -96.2% |
| 87. | Switzerland | $85,000 | -28.6% |
| 88. | Saudi Arabia | $75,000 | 0% |
| 89. | Hong Kong | $64,000 | +45.5% |
| 90. | Lebanon | $58,000 | -90.9% |
| 91. | Tanzania | $33,000 | -50.7% |
| 92. | Libya | $28,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Timor-Leste | $20,000 | 0% |
| 94. | Kenya | $14,000 | -73.6% |
| 95. | Angola | $11,000 | -42.1% |
| 96. | Mozambique | $10,000 | +25% |
| 97. | Mali | $9,000 | -94.7% |
| 98. | Iraq | $8,000 | -90% |
| 99. | Burkina Faso | $8,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Barbados | $6,000 | +100% |
| 101. | Cameroon | $6,000 | +200% |
| 102. | Mauritius | $4,000 | 0% |
| 103. | Laos | $4,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Qatar | $4,000 | -87.1% |
| 105. | Ivory Coast | $3,000 | 0% |
| 106. | Ghana | $2,000 | -91.7% |
| 107. | Zimbabwe | $2,000 | -60% |
| 108. | Malta | $2,000 | 0% |
| 109. | Madagascar | $2,000 | -77.8% |
| 110. | Montenegro | $1,000 | -93.8% |
| 111. | Aruba | $1,000 | 0% |
| 112. | Fiji | $1,000 | 0% |
| 113. | Cabo Verde | $1,000 | 0% |
| 114. | Congo | $1,000 | 0% |
| 115. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $1,000 | 0% |
The greatest gainers in revenues from their tomatoes exports from 2020 to 2021 were Sri Lanka (up 4,779%), Bangladesh (up 2,300%), Nicaragua (up 290.9%), Yemen (up 230.8%) and Cameroon (up 200%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most column shows the percentage change in the value of exported tomatoes from 2020 to 2021. An entry of 0% in that column means that no 2020 value is available.
See also Tomatoes Imports by Country, Asparagus Exports by Country, Top Sweet Pepper and Chili Pepper Exports and Top Lettuce Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 6, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 6, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 6, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 6, 2022
Wikipedia, Tomato. Accessed on July 6, 2022
World Processing Tomato Council, World Consumption of Tomato Products 2007. Accessed on July 6, 2022 (and supplemented by additional research primarily using Wikipedia’s current descriptions of companies named in the WPTC presentation)
