The custard apple is native to tropical America, the Peruvian Andes and the Ecuadorian mountains, although some authors also include the Andean area of Chile and Colombia. From this area of origin it spread to Central America and afterwards to the Caribbean, Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Africa and different Mediterranean and Asian countries. It was introduced in Spain with the discovery of America.

The United Nations Agriculture and Food Organization (FAO) gathers the production and export data of different tropical fruit, among which are the carambola, cherimoya, feijoa, guava, mangosteen, passion fruit, rambutan, sapote, etc.

The continent with greater production of tropical fruit is Asia, amounting for 83% of the total production. Some of it is also cultivated in South America, whereas the rest of the world has a scarce production.

Continent	Tons	%
Africa	406,270	3
Asia	12,736,173	83
Europe	25,000	-
North America	366,390	2
South America	1,766,650	12
Oceania	30,826	-
Total	15,331,309	100

Tropical fruit
Source:FAOProductionYearbook,2000

The countries with larger production of tropical fruit are the Asian: India, the Philippines, Indonesia and China. Some South American countries are also included among the 10 main producers.

Country	Tons
India	3,700,000
The Philippines	3,600,000
Indonesia	2,000,000
China	1,675,192
Colombia	1,120,000
Thailand	704,000
Pakistan	468,500
Brazil	335,000
Bangladesh	267,000
Peru	253,179

Tropicalfruit
Source:FAOProductionYearbook,2000

The main export country is Malaysia, followed by the United States and Kenya. The following table shows the 10 main exporters of tropical fruit, among which we find the custard apple:

Country	Tons
Malaysia	52412
The United States	28,269
Kenya	10,592
Thailand	5,542
Indonesia	4,794
Egypt	4,081
Madagascar	3,642
Yemen	2,953
China	2,914
Australia	2,897

Tropicalfruit
Source:FAOTradeYearbook,2000