Spain: Customs Statistics

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Spain: Customs statistics

Spain ranks second among European tomato producing countries, and has recently re-energized its export market after a slump in 1999/2000. The main export products are paste and canned tomatoes.

With an average of 1.46 million tonnes of raw tomatoes processed annually over the past four years, and production intentions stated at 1.8 million tonnes in 2003, Spain has confirmed its position in Europe by ranking second, behind Italy, after several years of regular growth.

Almost three quarters of this production are processed into paste, slightly less than 10% into peeled tomatoes and almost 20% spread across the “other products” category: sauces and ketchup, purée, etc.

Overall import and export figures indicate a balance of trade that is largely positive – over the past five years, imports have averaged approximately 19000 tonnes annually, with export volumes almost reaching 200000 tonnes. Over the same time-span, exports of finished products have accounted for 42% of the paste production, 60% of the peeled tomato production and 35% of the production of other specialities.

Import results have been very stable since 1997/98, despite a peak in 2000/2001 mainly linked to an increase in sauce purchases. Spanish exports of tomato products are not exempt from sharp fluctuations depending on international prices: after a period of steady expansion until their peak of 1997/98 (with 220 000 tonnes exported), sales slowed over the two following years (1998/99 and 1999/2000) owing to a saturated international market.

The efforts of the industry in Spain to offset the effects of a deteriorating market have met with considerable success, with exports reaching 12% between 1999/2000 and 2001/02. Over the past two years, the sales of all products have increased, with the strongest progression being recorded for the sauces and ketchup category, which has grown by 41% over the same period. Purées have also contributed to this upturn, though to a lesser extent, expanding by more than 47% in two years.

However, the past five years have also seen a noticeable slowing of peeled tomato exports. The drop of this export sector (-35%) matches the drop in tonnage dedicated to peeled tomato processing (-34%), a clear reflection of the European trend towards manufacturing second-processing products with higher added-values.

As for paste, annual variations remain fairly small: sales in this category vary from 72000 to 78000 tonnes, remaining relatively stable over the past five years (1.2% growth).

These exports are mainly focussed on the European continent: in the past five years, almost 83% (an average of 165000 tonnes) of Spanish tomato product exports have been shipped to European countries. The remaining export tonnage is spread over other regions, with a heavy proportion of paste going to the USA and Japan and a large part of the sauce production going to Latin America, Australia and Korea. Important outlets for peeled tomatoes are the USA, Latin America and the Middle East. Japan remains the main buyer of Spanish purée after Europe.

Germany is the main European destination for paste (one third of the paste export volume over the past five years), with an annual average of more than 22000 tonnes. The United Kingdom, with 10550 tonnes, is the second paste market for Spanish exporters, slightly ahead of France, which imported an average of over 9560 tonnes every year between 1997/98 and 2001/02). Other destinations include Sweden, North America and the Netherlands, with an annual 5000 tonnes imported from Spain. Overall, these results indicate a slight drop over the past three years, while there is a steady increase for the three main destinations (United Kingdom, France, Sweden and the Netherlands).

Exports of peeled tomatoes have varied since 1999/2000 between 52000 and 55000 tonnes, after peaking in 1997/98 and 1998/99 at 75-80000 tonnes. France is by far the main buyer, with an annual import volume of 30000 tonnes of Spanish tinned tomatoes, almost half of the country’s exports in this category. In decreasing order according to volume, the United States come second with 10500 tonnes of peeled tomatoes imported annually. Portugal can also be mentioned as an importer, with 5600 tonnes, as it produces practically no peeled tomatoes of its own. The United Kingdom ranks fourth, with almost 4200 tonnes of Spanish peeled tomatoes imported every year.

The following tables present detailed results for the main tomato products exported from Spain.

(Sources : Tomato News, EuroStat )