Asparagus is a product that is widely grown and consumed. The main consumption countries are the US, Germany and Spain. The consumption in China is rising quickly. Production and consumption of asparagus is the least developed on the African continent. The cultivation takes place on a small scale there in Morocco and South Africa. The countries with the largest asparagus areas are China (ca. 70,000 ha), Peru (ca. 25,000 ha), Germany (ca. 22,000 ha) and Mexico (ca 16,000 ha) the Limgroup reports in its newsletter.
Of the four countries mentioned the area in Mexico is growing the fastest. The focus of the production in on the sales to the US. In the US the area has declined by almost 65% in the last twelve years. One of the reasons for this is the NAFTA agreement, in which the import tariffs for Mexican asparagus were reduced from 25% to 0%. The increase of the Mexican production is bad for the trade of Peruvian growers, who are also orientated on export to the US.
The situation in Europe is reasonably stable. Germany is the absolute number 1 producer and almost 80% of the almost exclusively white product is consumed domestically. The fastest grower is England. Here only green asparagus is grown and the area has increased by around 50% to around 2,000 hectares in the last ten years. The English consumption patterns has seen similar growth, which means there is still some need for import during the harvest. The global asparagus production seems to be in good balances and showed a reasonably stable picture. The increasing wealth in Asian countries offers enough perspective for the long term.
Asparagus Area
• China 39 %
• Peru 14 %
• Germany 12 %
• Mexico 8 %
• US 5 %
• Other 22 %
Source: Limgroup