tomatoes

Greece's tomato export industry enjoyed a boom in 2011 with sales nearly doubling on the previous year, according to new figures from EC statistics service Eurostat.

The country exported some 11,543 tonnes of tomatoes between January and September last year, well up on the 5,866 tonnes shipped in the same period of 2010, Eurostat figures published by Syngenta Tomatoes Today revealed.

Growth was driven by tomato exports to the European Union, with volumes up from 4,189 tonnes in the first nine months of 2010 to 10,392 tonnes, an increase of 148 per cent.

However, tomato exports to non-EU countries actually dropped last year, down from 1,677 tonnes to 1,151 tonnes.

The figures follow a growth trend seen in recent years, with full-year export volumes hitting 7,372 tonnes in 2010, up from 2,703 tonnes in 2009.