Canada: supply sources of tomato products

Canada is one of the countries that, although it has an efficient and established processing industry, only meets part of its domestic needs. Beyond the annual quantities processed, amounting to some 435,000 metric tonnes of fresh tomato equivalent over the last seven seasons, the country imports significant volumes of tomato products to meet an annual national demand estimated at around 1.1 to 1.2 million mT. The majority of foreign supplies come from the United States (72% of paste imports, 70% of canned tomatoes and 96% of sauce imports, on average over the last five years).

Tomato paste is the smallest of Canada's three tomato product import items in terms of volume and value. With an annual average of 60,000 mT of finished products imported over the last three years (a significant increase compared to previous years), foreign purchases of pastes only account for a minor share (19% on average) of total Canadian expenditure in the sector. The increase in foreign purchases has taken place alongside the drop in processed quantities recorded over the last fifteen years, particularly since 2009/2010 (see additional information at the end of this article).
 

Although they have declined sharply over the past six years, foreign purchases of ketchup and tomato sauces (129,000 mT in 2020/2021) remain by far the largest single line of expenditure in the tomato products trade flow to the Canadian market.
In this category also, the proximity of the very influential US processing industry is felt, to the point that Canadian imports in recent years have been almost exclusively (96%) made up of US products, with imports from Italy (2%) and other origins (Philippines and Mexico, less than 0.6%) being confined to very secondary roles. 
It is important to note, however, that in 2020/2021 there has been a sudden increase in the inflow of sauces from Italy which, although modest (7,700 mT) compared to the quantities arriving from the USA (117,000 mT), nevertheless increased by almost 220% compared to the three previous marketing years, while at the same time US products, more directly affected by the chronic decline observed since 2015, have recorded a further significant fall (-23%).