Affected by severe drought in major tomato production regions, the global tomato output in 2012 dived to 34.721 million tons, hitting the rock bottom since 2007. The Mediterranean boasts the world's largest processing tomato production region, with the output accounting for 41.4% of the world's total, while the US is known as the world's largest processing tomato production country, with the output making up 35.6% of the world's total. In China, the output of processing tomato stood up 9.6% of the total in global terms.
China currently has around 166 tomato sauce processing factories, featuring higher market concentration. COFCO Tunhe and Chalkis are flagship tomato products enterprises, with the collective output accounting for over 70% of the total in China.
China's tomato products are mostly exported to EU countries, Russia and Japan. In 2012, the severe drought in major production regions caused the low operation of domestic tomato enterprises, with the export volume of tomato products declining by 4.2% over 2011. By contrast, the products like ketchup and tomato sauce in small package saw rapid growth in export volume, and the export structure appears to be more reasonable.
In 2012, the average export price of tomato products made in China began to pick up. In Jan.-May, 2013, the average export price exceeded USD900/ton, starting running at a profit. However, it is the truth indeed that the overall profit of China tomato processing industry is relatively low.
