The origin of the nectarine is unknown, although its history takes us 2,000 years back and arises at the same time as the peach does. From the genetic point of view, the culture of the nectarine is a very interesting phenomenon in horticulture.

The countries that produce nectarines are located all along the Mediterranean basin, South Africa, the United States, and Australia. Lately, all the European Union countries have increased their productions. The world-wide production of peaches and nectarines is thought to be around 12,000,000 tons.

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)		%
	1998	1999
Africa	804	832	7
Asia	4,601	4,610	38
Europe	3,546	4,183	35
North America	1,455	1,484	12
Oceania	104	107	1
South America	774	825	7
TOTAL	11,284	12,041	100

Source: Fresh Produce Desk Book(2001).

The 10 countries with greater production of peaches and nectarines, along with their production development in the last years, is shown in the following table:

COUNTRY	PRODUCTION (thousand tons)
	1989-91	1996	1997	1998
China	1,232	2,776	2,996	2,996
Italia	1,591	1,754	1,158	1,429
The United States	1,303	1,179	1,430	1,300
Spain	708	870	925	988
Greece	760	876	588	480
Francia	475	464	469	470
Turkey	339	360	355	400
Chile	191	280	270	285
Argentina	237	281	290	280
South Africa	145	173	251	240

Source: FAO Production Yearbook 1998.

The state with greater production of comercial varieties in the United States is California, amounting more than 98% of the American production.

The countries with greater production in the European Union are Spain and Italy. In Spain, the main regions are Sevilla and Huelva.

Concerning exports, the main exporters of peaches and nectarines are the countries in the Mediterranean basin.

COUNTRY	EXPORTS
	tons1998	thousand U.S.$1998
Italy	330,245	349,930
Spain	198,196	260,113
The United States	83,659	80,593
France	70,403	112,053
Chile	68,307	48,083
Greece	47,079	36,191
The Netherlands	12,630	16,784
Germany	7,840	10,003
South Africa	5,900	6,747
Argentina	4,257	4,211

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1998

The peaches and nectarines imports are shown in the following table:

IMPORTS VALUE1000$year1999
Germany	228,831
United Kingdom	115,837
France	75,571
The United States	64,098
Italy	51,816
Canada	45,354
The Netherlands	34,653
Belgium-Luxembourg	34,467
Switzerland	30,723
Poland	26,876

(Peaches and nectarines imports)
Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, ( http://www.fao.org )

IMPORTS AMOUNT (tons) year 1999
Germany	331,280
United Kingdom	107,721
France	65,591
Poland	62,968
Canada	54,470
TheUnitedStates	48,361
Italy	45,720
The Netherlands	41,847
Poland	37,089
Switzerland	32,976

(Peaches and nectarines imports)
Source: FAO Trade Yearbook,( http://www.fao.org )