10 World’s Most Produced Agricultural commodities from Spain

 

10 World’s Most Popular Agricultural Commodities from Spain- According to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT), there are 10 World’s Most Popular Agricultural Products from Spain.  These agricultural products basically have huge production in Spain, and many Spanish people or farmers produced these products.

Spain is basically one of the European countries located in Southwestern of Europe. Relating to the economic conditions with a total population around 48.7 million people until 2024 according to Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Spain's economy still becomes one of the biggest in the Europe Region. According to the IMF Report, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Spain in 2024 reached USD 1,730 billion and GDP per capita in the range of USD 35,790. More specifically, based on the economic sector, the service and industries sectors still become economic drivers in Spanish. According to Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Service sector contributes around 74.6% of Spain's GDP while industry contributes around 22.5% of total GDP in Spain.

Of all sectors, the agriculture sector in Spain contributes just around 2.9% but this sector has a strategic role in providing the nutrition, foods, feed, and indirectly influencing the human development in Spain.  As one of the developed countries in the world, Spain has some popular and leading agricultural products. This product basically was the most produced in Spain in the year of 2022. Here are the ranks of 10 World’s Most Produced Agricultural Commodities from Spain. All the data was obtained from FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT) in 2022.

 

The Rank of 10 World’s Most Produced Agricultural Commodities from Spain in 2022

 

Rank	Agricultural Commodities from Spain	Production in 2022
		(Tons)
1	Raw milk of cattle	7,454,970
2	Barley	7,029,720
3	Wheat	6,508,800
4	Grapes	5,902,040
5	Meat of pig with the bone, fresh or chilled	5,066,350
6	Olives	3,940,070
7	Tomatoes	3,651,940
8	Maize (corn)	3,590,260
9	Oranges	2,817,400
10	Sugar beet	2,001,040
Source : FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT), 2024

 

Brief Description of 10 World’s Most Popular Agricultural Commodities from Spain

 

 

1. Raw milk of cattle     

 

Raw milk still become the most-produced agricultural commodities of Spain in 2022.  Genetically, Holstein-Friesian still becomes a common breed of cattle in producing milk. Besides as a nutritious drink, milk in this country can also be processed into cheese, yogurts, desserts and other industrial products. Geographically, the main production of cattle's milk from Spain can be located in Galicia, Castile & Leon, Catalonia, Andalusia, and Cantabria. According to the FAO Statistical Corporate Database, the total production areas of cattle’s milk from Spain reached 7,454,970 tons in 2022.

 

2. Barley            

Barley still becomes the 2^nd most produced and most popular crop in Spain, with a cultivated area of about three million hectares (Moreno, 2017).  Commonly, the majority usage of barley in Spain was for animal feed, approximately 92% of the Spanish total cultivated areas is devoted to animal feed. In Spanish, the barley is called "cebada". Geographically, the barley cultivation in Spain can be found mostly in the several regions including Castilla y Leon, Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha. Furthermore, according to FAOSTAT in 2022, the production of Barley from Spain reached 7,029,720 tons.

3. Wheat           

Wheat still became the 3^rd most produced in Spain in 2022. Statistically, the production of Wheat from Spain in 2022 reached 6,508,800 tons according to the FAOSTAT database. In Spain, geographically, the main cultivation areas of wheat can be found in North and South areas. The northern part includes the Castilla y León region, and the southern part includes parts of Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalucía (Royo & Briceño-Félix, 2011). Commonly, the type of wheat crops can be distinguished into bread wheat and durum wheat. The bread wheat is grown mostly in the regions of Castilla y León (43% of total area) and Castilla La Mancha (16% of total area). Furthermore, the Durum Wheat in Spain is concentrated in Andalusia (57%), Zaragoza (28%), Badajoz (7%), and Toledo (5%). Genetically, bread wheat varieties which commonly cultivated are Soissons, Berdun, Marius, Craklin. In addition, the durum wheat varieties which commonly planted are Nuño, Yavaros, Gallareta, Vitron, Don Pedro, Sula, Claudio, Colosseo, Simeto.

4. Grapes

The production of grapes from Spain reached 5,902,040 tons in 2022 according to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT). The grapes can be processed into wine or consumed directly. In Spain, relating to wine industries, there are the standardized wine regions. It is called denominaciones de origen protegidas (DOP), amounting to 96 of DOP. Some of the cultivars of wine Grapes which are commonly planted are Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot or Sauvignon Blanc.

 

5. Meat of pig with the bone, fresh or chilled

The meat of pig also became the other most-produced agricultural product from Spain. According to FAOSTAT, the production of pig meat from Spain reached 5,066,350 tons. Geographically, in Spain, the pig farming concentrated in Catalonia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, and Andalusia. Genetically, there is a pig in Spain. Iberian pig is an autochthonous porcine from Iberian Peninsula which can be found in West Andalusia, Extremadura, and Salamanca.

6. Olive

Olives also become one of the most cultivated and most popular plants in Spain. The production of olive from Spain according to FAO Statistical Corporate Database reached 3,940,070 tons.  Particularly, cultivation areas of olives were around 2 million hectares more or less.  Functionally, harvested olive fruits can be processed into several products, namely olives oil, soaps, shampoos, and other beauty products. Geographically, most of the olive plants in Spain are concentrated in Andalusia. Based on its genotypes, some of the olive cultivars which commonly planted in Spain were Picual, Comicabra, Hojiblanca, Lechin de Sevilla, Arbequina, Manzanilla de Sevilla, and others (Barranco & Rallo, 2000).

 

7. Tomatoes     

Tomatoes are one of the most produced horticulture products in Spain. In the year of 2022, the production of tomatoes from Spain reached 3,651,940 tons according to FAO Statistical Corporate Database. Geographically, the tomatoes production areas in Spain are concentrated in the Southeast of the peninsula (Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and Almeria), the Ebro River Valley (Navarra, Rioja and Saragossa), Extremadura and the Canaries (Tello, 1998). Furthermore, in this country, culturally, there is a “La Tomatina festival”. Specifically, La Tomatina is a throwing tomatoes festival which is held in Valencia and many people in this festival throw tomatoes at one another participants just for entertainment.

8. Maize (corn)

Spain could produce maize around 3,590,260 tons in 2022. Geographically, the regions of maize can be found in this country. Andalusia, Aragon, Castila La mancha, and Galicia are some of the most cultivated areas of maize in Spain.  In Spain, the maize can be processed into maize flour, and diverse recipes of “talo” and “gofio” (Revilla et al., 2022).

9. Oranges        

Oranges in Spain also become a popular fruit. Statistically, the production of oranges in Spain reached 2,817,400 tons. Genetically, the Spain oranges can be differentiated into some types including the Spain sweet orange contributing around 48% of all cultivated areas, mandarin oranges (37% of all cultivated areas) and lemon (14% of all cultivated areas). Geographically, there are also some main production areas of oranges. It is located in the region of Valencia, Andalusia, Murcia (Alcon et al., 2019).

10. Sugar beet 

The production of Sugar beet in Spain reached 2,001,040 tons. Geographically, the production of Sugar beet in Spain is located in Castilla-y-León region (Sánchez-Sastre, 2020). Furthermore, genetically, some of the sugar beet cultivars which are planted in Spain are Estepa, Soraanda, Lugano, Pepite, Ave and Millenium. In this country, sugar beet is processed into sugar.

 

The Summary of 10 World’s Most Produced Agricultural commodities from Spain in 2022

 

Bibliography of 10 World’s Most Popular Agricultural commodities from Spain

 

IMF. 2023.World Economic Outlook Database (Spain). Available at : https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/October/weo-report?c=184,&s=NGDP,NGDPD,PPPGDP,&sy=2021&ey=2028&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1.

Instituto Nacional de Estadistica.2024. Population resident in Spain. Accessed via https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736177095&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735572981 on October 30th, 2024.

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FAOSTAT. 2021. Top 10 Commodities Production in Spain 2021. Available at : https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#rankings/commodities_by_country.

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Royo, C., & Briceño-Félix, G. A. (2011). Spanish wheat pool. The World Wheat Book, 2, 121-154.

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Tello, J. (1998). Tomato production in Spain without methyl bromide. In Regional workshop on methyl bromide alternatives for North Africa and Southern European countries, UNEP, Ministerio del Ambiente de Italia y GTZ (pp. 161-172).

Revilla, P., Alves, M. L., Andelković, V., Balconi, C., Dinis, I., Mendes-Moreira, P., ... & Malvar, R. A. (2022). Traditional foods from maize (Zea mays L.) in Europe. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8, 683399.

Alcon, F., Fernández-Zamudio, M. A., López-Becerra, E. I., & de-Miguel, M. D. (2019). Survival analysis of orange tree varieties in Spain. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 17(1), e0103-e0103.

Sánchez-Sastre, L. F., Alte da Veiga, N. M., Ruiz-Potosme, N. M., Hernández-Navarro, S., Marcos-Robles, J. L., Martín-Gil, J., & Martín-Ramos, P. (2020). Sugar beet agronomic performance evolution in NW Spain in future scenarios of climate change. Agronomy, 10(1), 91.