In addition to the impressive quantities of paste exported each year by US tomato processors, the United States also maintains very significant flows of sauces & ketchups destined for the sector's major global markets. Thus, over the last three years (December-November period), annual US exports of tomato sauces & ketchups have mobilized more than 344,000 tonnes (metric, t) on average, and up to more than 380,000 in 2023-2024; the main outlets are naturally North American (Canada) and Central American (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, etc.), but also the Far East (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia).
Having enjoyed a very large trade surplus for tomato sauces for many years, the United States has also become, in less than ten years, an important destination for some major players in the global sauces & ketchup sector; imports from Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and, much more importantly, from Italy, have created a new essential component of the US balance of sauces and ketchups, which is now struggling to recover beyond the level of 200,000 t reached last year; as a reminder, the average surplus level reached more than 350,000 t over the period 2015-2017.
The observed decline in exported quantities was logically accompanied by a contraction in value; over the period 2014-2022, the annual surplus of the US tomato sauce balance gradually eroded, falling from around USD 337 million over the period 2015-2017 to less than USD 233 million over the period 2020-2022; then, just as the balance seemed on the point of finding equilibrium in terms of quantities, a sudden drop even occurred over the last two years, causing a spectacular deterioration in the US result.
Ultimately, significant value differentials between products exported by the US sector and those imported into the United States from other regions, particularly the European Union, created a situation in which, although in surplus in terms of volumes, the US sauce balance showed, for the first time in many years in 2024, a slight deficit (USD 42 million).
Some complementary data
Comparative evolution of imports and the US balance of sauces and ketchups, in tonnes.
Sources: TDM
