China Tomato Product Industry
The regions of the world that grow and process tomatoes are mainly concentrated in the California Valley of the United States, the Mediterranean coast of the United States and Xinjiang Province of China. After more than 20 years of development, China has become the world’s most important producer and exporter of tomato products, the third largest producer and the largest exporter after the United States and the European Union.
Tomato Output
In 2017 and 2018, China’s tomato output both exceeded 50 million tons and increased steadily year by year. At present, China’s tomato output accounts for one quarter of the global total. China’s ketchup production is mainly concentrated in the northwest, where more than 90% of the ketchup is produced. From the point of view of specific provinces and cities, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia and other regions are concentrated in production, among which Xinjiang is the main producer. Xinjiang ketchup accounts for about 60% of China’s exports.
Tomato Quality
Tomato paste from Xinjiang, China, is famous for its high red pigment, color difference, viscosity and mold index have reached the advanced level of similar products in the world. Sufficient sunshine makes tomato paste in Xinjiang and other places have the advantages of high red pigment content, high soluble solid content, high yield per unit area, less diseases and insect pests, and less mold. At the same time, xinjiang tomatoes per 100g pulp containing grain vitamin 5.5g, xinjiang due to the dry climate, tomato split, mildew less, tomato sauce mold field is less than 25%, the lowest can be below 12%, far lower than the standard of some foreign countries, such as Canada 50%. Italy, France 60%, the United States, the United Kingdom 40%, China 40%.
China Export Destinations
At present, China’s tomato paste export destination is Mainly Europe and Africa, these two regions account for about 70% of the total. At its peak, Chinese tomato-based sauces, which cost half as much as Italian, accounted for 70 per cent of the European market.
Tomato Categories
In terms of categories, small packaging, tomato sauce, VAT sauce are the main export categories; Export ketchup mainly includes two kinds: small package ketchup of less than or equal to 5 kilograms (referred to as small package) and large package ketchup of more than 5 kilograms (referred to as large package). Small package exports are mainly concentrated in Tianjin, while large package exports are mainly concentrated in Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and other provinces and regions.
Some tomato sauce manufacturers in east and north China buy large barrels of tomato sauce from other tomato sauce raw material factories and sell them in small packages. Northwest China mainly has a number of raw sauce production enterprises directly produce small package of tomato sauce.
Tomato Processing Enterprises
There are 182 ketchup processing enterprises in China, including 127 in Xinjiang, 12 in Gansu and 43 in Inner Mongolia, with a daily processing capacity of 299,200 tons. In 2017, there were 100 enterprises, including 75 in Xinjiang, 3 in Gansu and 22 in Inner Mongolia, with a daily processing capacity of 192,600 tons. In 2019, Xinjiang’s ketchup exports totaled us $416 million, up 14.58 percent from US $363 million in 2018. In 2019, The country with the largest export volume and amount of money from Xinjiang was Italy, followed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Specifically, there is a big difference between xinjiang VAT sauce and small package ketchup export countries. VAT sauce is mainly used as raw materials or semi-finished products for deep processing and exported to Countries and regions with deep processing capacity in Europe, Asia and Africa. Small package ketchup is mainly consumed as a terminal product and exported to Asia and Africa.
Increasing the produce
From 2017 to 2019, The export volume of China’s ketchup was stable and slightly declined. Tomato cultivation in 2020 has not been significantly affected by the epidemic. According to data, China will open at least six more plants in the new season in 2020 than in 2019. Domestic seedling production in Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia has been little affected by the epidemic.
China Export to Australia
China tomato product exports to Australia in 2019 fall into three categories. The export amount of less than or equal to 5 kg is 33.13 million yuan, the amount of more than 5 kg is 15.36 million yuan, and the amount of ground tomatoes is 4.72 million yuan. Cans containing less than 5kg of tomato sauce accounted for the largest proportion, which came from nine regions in China, including Hebei, Jiangsu and Xinjiang.
Note :Information taken from China’s Customs Department and other publicly available channels.
