According to data that Hortoinfo produced from Faostat, the statistical agency of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2018, Turkey produced twice as much pepper as Spain, seven times more than Holland, and 10 times more pepper than Morocco.
World pepper production exceeded 36.7 billion kilos for the first time in history, as production in 2018, the last year that FAO offers global data, amounted to 36,771.48 million kilos of pepper.
In 2018, there were 1,990,423 hectares devoted to pepper production, and the average yield per hectare was 1.85 kg/m².
The Netherlands is the country with the best performance in the world, as it obtained 27.08 kg/m², i.e. 336.77% more than Spain, which only obtained 6.2 kg/m². Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco, which also compete against Spain, produced 2.78 kg/m², 1.69 kg/m², and 4.71 kg/m², respectively.
The world's largest producers
China is the world's largest producer with 18,184.71 million kilos. In 2018, China devoted 769,078 hectares to produce peppers and achieved an average yield of 2.36 kg/m².
The second-largest producer in the world is Mexico, which in 2018 produced 3,379.29 million kilos in 156,799 hectares, achieving an average yield of 2.16 kg/m².
Turkey ranks third with 2,554.97 million kilos, an area of 91,973 hectares, and a yield of 2.78 kg/m².
Indonesia ranks fourth with 2,542.36 million kilos, 308,547 hectares, and a yield of 0.82 kg/m².
Spain ranks fifth with 1,275.46 million kilos, 20,580 hectares, and an average yield of 6.20 kg/m².
Spain's competitors
In addition to Turkey, other producers that compete with Spain in the markets are Egypt, the Netherlands, Italy, Morocco, and Israel.
According to FAO, in 2018, Egypt produced a total of 713.75 million kilos of pepper in 42,132 hectares achieving an average yield of 1.69 kg/m².
The Netherlands produced 355 million kilos in 1,311 hectares and had an average yield of 27.08 kg/m².
Italy produced 260.75 million kilos of pepper that year in 10,522 hectares and achieved an average yield of 2.48 kg/m².
Pepper production in Morocco reached 256.52 million kilos, 34.23% more than in the previous year, in 5,449 hectares, and an average yield of 4.71 kg/m².
Israel produced 196.11 million kilos in 3,243 hectares and an average yield of 6.05 kg/m².
