The radish comes from the Near East countries, from where it spread rapidly to the Mediterranean basin. At present it is grown almost all over Europe.

The surface engaged in this crop in 1984 in Spain was 1,100 ha, 0,23% of the total 485,000 ha dedicated to vegetables in Spain during this period. The widely predominant destination for this production is the domestic market, with small shipments to foreign countries. The output oscillates around 40 t/ha for radishes and 15 t/ha for little radishes. The only difference between little radishes and radishes is that the former are smaller and have a shorter vegetative cycle, and the edible part is only formed by the hypocotil. On the contrary, radishes are larger, with a longer vegetative cycle and the edible part includes the hypocotil, the main bud and the root.

Even though little radishes are not economically significant as vegetable species, their culture has great interest in some independent communities. The Netherlands play a very important role as far as marketing since they import Spanish, Israeli and of the United States production, that is prepared along with the domestic production and distributed to the rest of European countries. Some of the most singular ways of presentation of little radishes at present have been conceived in the Netherlands. Such is the case of the conical small bags.

Considering Spain as a whole, its culture is quite stable. In 1990 1,000 ha were dedicated to this crop, whereas in 1991 the total surface amounted to 800 ha. In 1999, the area of production was 473 ha, 7,095 t were obtained. The figures by provinces show greater variations since they are always kept at a very reduced level, as show in the following table:

Area	Hectares	Tons
Málaga	98	1,960
Barcelona	108	1,667
Granada	35	658
Córdoba	56	640
Alicante	21	442
Baleares	23	415
Valencia	34	408
Murcia	24	379
Jaén	46	276
Huelva	28	250

Source: La Horticultura Española (2001)
SECH, Sociedad Española de Ciencias Hortícolas.

The chief Spanish provinces producing little radishes are Málaga and Barcelona, followed by Granada and Córdoba. That is to say, the production of little radishes is centred in Andalucía.

Spain imports little radishes from the Netherlands. The Dutch little radish is more watery than that produced in most of the Spanish culture areas.

Spain exports little radishes from October until May. It is usually prepared without leaves nor roots, in boxes containing 30 kg and containers for 350 kg. The exports to the Netherlands are usually of the size 18-30 mm and longer than 30 mm The same size is exported to Germany. However, for the United Kingdom the size is 18-25 mm and 25-30 mm.