The maize grows as a wild plant in the highlands of Peru. It spread all over America and Columbus introduced it in Europe. At present, the greater maize producer in the world is the United States; in Europe it is chiefly cultivated in the Southeast or southern countries.

The main importers of prepared sweet maize are shown in the following table:

Country	Tons of sweet maize, fresh or in preserve. Not frozen
Germany	65,945
Japan	55,605
China	52,025
United Kingdom	45,775
Korea	24,104
Russian Federation	17,422
Spain	16,479
The Netherlands	15,765
Poland	14,184
France	11,641

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook (1999)

The 10 first importers of frozen maize are the following:

Country	Tons of frozen sweet maize.
Japan	51,045
United Kingdom	45,260
China	26,301
Belgium-Luxembourg	18,997
Germany	12,096
Australia	11,300
The USA	11,051
Russian Federation	6,362
France	5,422
Sweden	4,329

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook (1999)

The main country exporting sweet maize, both prepared and frozen, is the United States, but there are other countries exporting prepared maize:

Country	Tons of sweet maize, fresh or in preserve. Not frozen
The USA	185,104
France	89,575
Hungary	72,879
Canada	26,378
Thailand	26,256
Italy	11,011
The Netherlands	10,300
Germany	9,057
Belgium-Luxembourg	8,989
China	7,480

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook (1999)

The 10 first countries exporting frozen maize are the following ones:

Country	Tons of frozen sweet maize.
The USA	73,513
Hungary	39,629
New Zealand	21,334
Canada	13,883
Belgium-Luxembourg	13,493
France	10,965
Spain	10,698
Mexico	6,528
Israel	5,400
China	5,086

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook (1999)