China accounts for 31.2% of global pumpkin, squash and gourd production

China maintains a dominant production base

China harvested 7,374,060.7 tonnes of pumpkins, squash and gourds in 2023, accounting for 31.2% of global production in the category. The figures, reported by Click Petróleo e Gás using Tridge and FAO data, mean that nearly one in every three tonnes produced worldwide came from Chinese farms.

The country’s lead is based on thousands of growers, cooperatives, companies and regional production centres rather than one concentrated plantation. Output has also remained consistently high: China produced 7,432,081.83 tonnes in 2019, indicating that the 2023 result was not an isolated harvest peak.

A review published in the Australian Journal of Crop Science in 2025 likewise estimated China’s share at more than 30% of global pumpkin output. It identified Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita pepo among the principal cultivated species. These crops supply fresh-food markets as well as processors producing seeds, dehydrated ingredients and other food products.

Guizhou expands contract cultivation and processing

Guizhou has emerged as a significant cultivation and processing centre in southwestern China. According to Xinhua, the province planned to expand contracted pumpkin acreage to more than 13,000 hectares in 2025, targeting estimated production of 500,000 tonnes.

Zhijin county, promoted as a major pumpkin-growing area, produces more than 100,000 tonnes annually and involves over 30,000 farmers. These figures illustrate the distributed structure of the Chinese industry, in which networks of relatively numerous producers feed regional collection and processing operations.

Xinhua also reported that one local company has annual capacity to process 7,500 tonnes of pumpkin strips and granules, alongside 3,000 tonnes of other dehydrated vegetables. Its exports reached 23.16 million yuan in 2024, an increase of 345% year on year. Export sales in the first two months of 2025 totalled 8.75 million yuan.

Fresh exports remain small relative to output

China’s production scale has not translated into a comparable position in fresh international trade. In 2023, the country ranked 12th among exporters of fresh or chilled pumpkins, squash and gourds. Sales were valued at $14,779,474, equivalent to approximately 0.94% of the value of global exports in this segment.

Hong Kong, Vietnam, Russia and Macau were listed as the leading destinations. The gap between a 31.2% production share and less than 1% of fresh export value suggests that most Chinese output is absorbed by domestic consumption or directed into processed products.

Dehydration provides an alternative route to market for producing regions such as Guizhou. Dried strips, granules and ingredients have a longer shelf life and require less shipping space than fresh fruit, making them more suitable for long-distance distribution. Processing also allows producers and regional companies to generate value from parts of the crop that do not enter premium fresh channels.

Domestic demand underpins the industry

China combines a large agricultural base with a substantial domestic market and established processing capacity. That combination has kept national production close to one-third of world output over several years, even though the country remains a relatively small exporter of fresh produce by value.

For growers and processors, the Guizhou expansion shows where further commercial growth may occur: contracted acreage, coordinated supply and products with longer storage lives. For international traders, China’s influence is therefore more visible in overall availability and selected processed-product flows than in the global market for fresh pumpkins, squash and gourds.