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Canada is the sixth largest exporter of fresh vegetables in terms of value, according to the latest data from Rabobank.
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The bank recently published a new World Vegetable Map, which highlights data on global vegetable production, consumption and trade.
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Cindy van Rijswick, global strategist of fresh produce at Rabobank, told Ontario Farmer that the value of Canada’s vegetable exports increased by 55 per cent between 2017-2022, an average of 9.2 per cent per year.
“This is a very substantial increase, outpacing the average global trade in fresh vegetables that grew by just over three per cent a year,” van Rijswick said.
Exports of Canadian greenhouse tomatoes and bell peppers to the United States are pushing the increase in value.
Looking at imports, Canada is the fifth largest importer of fresh vegetables in the world. This position has grown by an average 3.2 per cent a year from 2017.
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“Canada is strong in greenhouse vegetables and is among the few country that have massive production of vegetables in glasshouses,” van Rijswick said.
In the largest greenhouse producing countries, including Spain and Mexico, most vegetables are produced in plastic greenhouse structures.
With 2,427 hectares, Canada is among the largest glasshouse producers.
The Netherlands has twice the area of glasshouse vegetables, but other countries producing under glass, like Germany and Belgium, produce only on roughly 1,200 hectares of glass.
Canada’s mushroom exports are another interesting trend that stands out in Rabobank’s data.
At 66,000 tonnes of exports, Canada is now the third largest mushroom exporter in the world.
“Here we see a very strong increase of 11.8 per cent a year in the period 2017-2022,” van Rijswick said.
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