The Netherlands has overtaken Mexico to become the world’s biggest exporter of tomatoes, the AD reports on Friday.

New export figures show the Dutch market gardening sector exported tomatoes to the value of $1.8bn, compared with $1.7bn for Mexico. Spain is the third biggest tomato country with exports totaling $1.2bn a year. Turkey and France are in fourth and fifth place.

Junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma told the AD the Netherlands is a world player in terms of fruit, vegetable and arable products. ‘This figures show the tomato sector knows what it is doing,’ she said.

The Dutch tomato sector underwent an overhaul and developed new breeds several years ago after German complaints that their products were ‘water bombs’. In particular, the vine tomato helped the sector recover.