Chinese cabbages are original from China and known from very old. In other countries they are, in general, hardly known, although their consumption is spreading and they are already cultivated in some countries like Austria, Spain and The Netherlands.

This species is original from China, where it has been cultivated for more than 1,500 years. However, in Europe some varieties are only known since the XVIIIth century, and it is not until the 1970s that their culture spreads in the old continent. There is no industrial processing for the Chinese cabbage.

The FAO production, export and import data for " cabbages" include all the Brassicas oleraceas except for broccoli and cauliflower (cabbages, Chinese, headed, red and savoy cabbages, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi).

The main cabbage producers are China, Russia, India and Korea.

The world cabbage production is:

Continent	Thousand tons	%
Africa	905	2
Asia	31,704	65
Europe	12,254	25
North America	2,722	6
Oceania	99	1
South America	557	1
Total	48,241	100

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 1998

The 10 main cabbage producers are:

Country	Thousand tons
China	19,953
Russian Federation	4,500
India	4,200
Korea	2,755
Japan	2,550
The United States	2,084
Poland	1,778
Indonesia	1,401
Ukraine	1,070
Rumania	1,000

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000

The 10 main cabbage exporters are:

Country	Tons
The United States	213
The Netherlands	164
Poland	87
China	86
Italy	66
Spain	57
Indonesia	36
Canada	36
Germany	28
Mexico	20

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1999

The 10 main cabbage importers are:

Country	Tons
Russian Federation	180
Germany	159
Japan	133
Canada	126
The United States	107
China	89
Malaysia	41
France	37
The Netherlands	36
Singapur	33

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1999