Higher tomato yields in Morocco than in Spain

In 2018, 182.26M tons of tomatoes were produced worldwide, a historic record according to data from Faostat. The global acreage dedicated to this crop was 4,76M hectares, with an average yield of 3.83 kilos per square meter (Fig. 1).

The yield per square meter obtained by Morocco (8.83 kg/m²) exceeded that achieved by Spain (8.50 kg/m²) and that of the Netherlands (50.89 kg/m²) was six times greater than that of Spain. There is something to be noted in relation to the Netherlands, where it is not usual to grow tomatoes in the open air, as is the case in both Spain and Morocco.

In terms of production volume, Spain produced 3.38 times more tomatoes than Morocco and 5.24 more times than the Netherlands.

World’s largest producers of tomatoes

• In 2018, China was the world top producer, with 61.52M tons, 33.75% of world total. Its yield was 5.94 kg/m².
• The second largest producer was India, 19.37M tons and a yield of 2.47 kg/m².
• The US remained in the third place with a production of 12.61M tons and an average yield of 9.58 kg/m².
• Turkey was fourth with 12.50M tons and a yield of 6.89 kg/m².
• Fifth position was held by Iran, with a production of 6.57M tons and a yield of 4.14 kg/m².
• Spain stood in the eight place, producing 4.77M tons of tomatoes, planted in an area of 56,128 hectares and an average yield of 8.50 kg/m².

Spain’s competitors

In addition to Turkey, above mentioned, the 2018 situation of other competitors of Spain in the markets was as follows.

• Tomato production in the Netherlands was 910M tons, growing in an acreage of 1,788 hectares ; the Dutch yield stood far above the rest of the world, with 50.89 kg/m².
• The Egyptian crop was 6.6M tons and a yield of 4.10 kg/m².
• Italy produced 5.79M tons, with a yield of 5.97 kg/m².
• Morocco’s production reached 1.40M tons, with a yield of 8.83 kg/m².
• Tunisia produced 1.37M tons reaching a yield of 5.61 kg/m².

Source: hortoinfo.es