Chilean exports of concentrates increased significantly in 2024, and remain mainly focused on the Central and South American markets. However, Japan has risen to the top position among Chile's customer countries for the past two years.
The quantitative balance of Chilean exports of tomato concentrates (HS codes 200290) for the year 2024 (January-December) has increased significantly compared to the result for 2023: with nearly 176,000 tonnes of finished products exported, including more than two-thirds of concentrated purees between 30 and 32 Brix, the Chilean sector has improved its previous performance (160,000 t in 2023) by 10% and increased exported tonnages by 15% compared to the average of the three previous years (2021-2023).
Chilean activity is almost exclusively focused on tomato paste, which are very marginally supplemented by foreign sales of sauces and ketchups (HS codes 210320); Chile also imports increasingly large quantities of sauces (nearly 21,000 t annually over the last three years) from China, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico.
Exports of canned goods (HS codes 200210) are non-existent, with domestic needs in this sector being met by imports of 1,000 to 1,500 t each year from Italy, Portugal and, to a lesser extent, Spain.
The year 2024, while confirming the growing importance of the Central American markets (Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, to name just the main ones) in the Chilean commercial sphere of the concentrates sector, has not brought fundamental changes in the general geographical profile of the external activity: the group made up of the two main and closest customer regions of the Chilean sector (Central America and South America) represented last year 58% of the commercial outlets for tomato pastes and generated the same proportion of the revenues of this sector. Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil drain the majority of Chilean external sales in South America.
Two other regions, of varying importance depending on the year, occupy a privileged place in the customer base for Chilean pastes: the Far East (Japan, South Korea) and the Western EU (Germany and Italy), in particular due to the counter-seasonality of the production/processing periods and availability of "new harvest" products (see additional information at the end of the article), constitute strategic outlets for the Chilean tomato paste sector: with more than 27,000 t delivered to the Far East and nearly 23,000 t to the Western EU in 2024, these two regions represented a total of almost 29% of Chilean external sales for the year.
The landscape of Chilean outlets is completed by US, British, Kuwaiti and Saudi purchases: last year, these four countries imported a total of more than 18,000 t of Chilean tomato concentrates.
The Central and South American markets, as for tomato pastes, are the main outlets for sauces and ketchups produced in Chile; the tonnages are much smaller, around 5,100 tonnes on average over the last ten years, and the destinations are sometimes different: in 2024, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador alone accounted for more than 90% of Chilean foreign sales of sauces. Argentina, one of the leading importers of Chilean sauces three years ago, has significantly reduced and then stopped its purchases, from all sources, over the last two years.
The other regions of the world, with the exception of a few hundred tonnes delivered to the United States in 2022 and 2023, do not import tomato sauces from Chile.
Chilean revenues from exports of tomato products are almost exclusively generated by sales of tomato pastes; total sales last year amounted to more than USD 270 million, down 9% compared to the 2023 result (USD 297 million) but still 21% higher than the average of the results of the three previous years (USD 222 million).
Some complementary data
Although Chilean foreign activity is mainly focused on the "nearby" markets of Central and South America, Japan, in the leading group of purchasing countries for many years, has been the leading customer in terms of quantities and value of Chilean tomato products for the past two years. It is ahead of Mexico, Colombia and Germany.
Monthly profile of Chilean exports of tomato pastes, averaged over the last ten years.
Progression of the quantities of tomatoes processed annually by the Chilean industry.
Sources: Trade Data Monitor, WPTC
