World Strawberry Production

The strawberry belongs to the family Rosaceae, genus Fragaria, and is among the most widely consumed fruit throughout the world. Most varieties are cultivated from Fragaria x Ananassa and grown across a wide range of regions worldwide with the exception of polar latitudes.

Over 4.3 million tonnes of strawberries are produced each year. This has increased from 3.2 million tonnes over the last decade. Biggest producer is the USA at 1.3 million tonnes per annum – which represents 30% of the world’s crop (Table 1). The next largest producers are Turkey, Spain, Egypt and Mexico, growing between 230,000-303,000t each. The areas grown and their respective yields vary considerably, largely due to production methods.

Protected cropping under plastic or in greenhouses produces yields that are around 60-70t/ha while under open field cultivation producers aim for around 20t/ha. The highest mean yield of 56t/ha comes from the USA where a large proportion of the crop is intensively produced under plastic tunnels.

Northern and Eastern European countries are lower, at between 3-8t/ha, but the best growers produce yields much higher than this. Spain is the largest exporter at over 350,000 tonnes/annum, marketing 85% of their crop largely to North European consumers. In the EU, Germany and France are biggest importers at 90,000-100,000t/annum. The second largest exporter is the USA, where Canada is the main market, taking 110,000t. Around 80% of US exports are as fresh strawberries.

Per capita annual consumption of strawberries in the USA is around 3kg - a figure that has almost doubled over the last decade. EU citizens also consume similar amounts at between 3-4kg/person.