The origin of apricots is China and the references of their culture go back to 3,000 B.C. They spread from China to India, Persia, arriving at Europe, although the Arabs were responsible of their spreading. The main producing countries are in Asia; these are Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.

Some authors thought at the beginning that apricots came from Armenia, but in fact they are Chinese and their origin goes back to 3,000 years before Christ. From China, the apricot spread towards the north of India, to Punjab and Tibet. From Persia it went to Europe. In Rome this fruit was not consumed until the Ist century and it arrived at Greece during the campaigns of Alexander Magnus. The Arabs were responsible of its spreading.

From Spain it went to America where it underwent acclimatization to tempered areas, mainly in California and along the river Mississippi.

The following table shows the world production by continents:

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)		%
	1998	1999
Africa	323	330	12
Asia	1,364	1,368	51
Europe	622	805	30
North America	109	120	4
Oceania	30	30	1
South America	49	63	2
TOTAL	2,497	2,716	100

Source: Fresh Produce Desk Book (2001).

All over the world more than 2,700,000 tons of apricots are produced, of which around 800,000 are produced in Europe.

According to the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization), the 10 first producers of apricots are:

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)
	1989-91	1996	1997	1998
Turkey	362	241	306	538
Iran	88	215	198	198
Pakistan	89	188	190	190
France	113	176	157	160
Spain	165	198	128	152
Italy	174	137	106	142
Ukraine	-	124	115	122
Morocco	82	88	104	117
The United States	102	72	126	107
Lebanon	44	66	64	62

Source: FAO Production Yearbook (1998)

As it is shown, Turkey is the main producer, followed by some Asian countries. Among the main European producing countries we find, appart from Turkey, Spain, Italy and France.

In Spain, the average production is around 160,000 tons, of which the region of Murcia produces around 65%, the Valencian coast 28% and the rest between Albacete and Zaragoza.

The main export countries are shon in the following table:

COUNTRY	EXPORTS
	tons 1998	Thousand U.S. $ 1998
France	51,973	50,274
Spain	41,849	36,645
Italy	26,648	19,015
Greece	11,332	9,493
The United States	9,307	9,510
Syria, Arab Republic	7,254	7,115
The Netherlands	6,278	5,864
South Africa	6,026	4,748
Uzbekistan	3,637	6,663
Lebanon	2,641	590

Source: ( http://www.fao.org )

Imports, by value and amount, are shown in the following table:

IMPORTS VALUE 1000 $ year 1999
Germany	49,738
Italy	25,225
Switzerland	14,709
France	12,220
United Kingdom	9,184
Austria	8,182
Belgium-Luxembourg	7,778
Russian Federation	6,880
The Netherlands	5,956
Canada	5,131

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, ( http://www.fao.org )

IMPORTS AMOUNT (tons) year 1999
Germany	51,124
Italy	28,592
France	14,068
Switzerland	12,196
Austria	10,768
Russian Federation	9,541
Belgium-Luxembourg	7,401
The Netherlands	7,301
United Kingdom	6,722
Canada	4,819

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, ( http://www.fao.org )