It is thought that the asparagus is native to the river basins of Tigris and Euphrates. At first it was a spontaneous plant that grown sandy lands of the Eurasian continent. It was already cultivated by the Egyptians towards 6,000B.C., and from there they spread to Greece and Italy. Later on, the plant was introduced in Spain by the Romans. It under went a period of decay up to approximately 1,300, although during the Middle Ages it was highly appreciated.

Until the end of the XIXth century, the green asparagus was the main type. From that century on wards, it was cultivated underground, thus spreading the production of white asparagus.

The world-wide production is mainly centred in Asia, representing 84% of the total production. The main producing country in the world is China, at great distance from the following countries, Peru, the United States and Japan.

The world-wide production is as follows:

Continent	Thousand tons	%
Africa	42	1
Asia	3,501	84
Europe	236	6
North America	165	4
Oceania	15	-
South America	208	5
Total	4,167	100

Source: FAO Production Year book,2000

The 10 main producing countries are:

Country	Thousand tons
China	3,407
Peru	183
The United States	101
Japan	80
Mexico	62
Spain	61
Germany	45
Morocco	36
Greece	35
France	29

Source: FAO Production Year book,2000

The 10 main export countries are:

Country	Thousand tons
Mexico	41
Peru	26
Greece	24
The United States	21
Spain	18
Australia	8
The Netherlands	8
France	5
Chile	5
The Philippines	4

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook ,2000