Avocado consumption in Europe has increased by 7% since last year, according to the latest estimated figures on the marketed volumes.
● France is the largest consumer of avocados in Europe, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.
● Peru is the main supplier of avocados in Europe, followed by Colombia, Chile, Israel and Spain.
According to the latest official figures on avocado production and consumption published by CIRAD, avocados are as popular as ever. Globally, a total of 2,461,000 tons of avocados were exported by producing countries from June 2021 to May 2022. The United States remains the largest consumer of avocados by far, importing 43% of all avocados produced worldwide, but Europe comes in second, with 34% of the imports.
This year, the global consumption of avocados (estimated marketed volume) in Europe has increased by approximately 55,000 tons (+7%). For several years already, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been the main consumers of avocados in Europe. This year again, France comes in first, with a consumption estimated at 157,657 tons between June 2021 and May 2022. This represents an 8% increase from last year. In gross value, Spain comes in second, with an estimated marketed volume of 123,211 tons. However, according to the experts from CIRAD, this figure is probably largely over-estimated because a large proportion of the avocados imported to Spain are then exported again to other European countries. Finally, avocados also continue to be a very popular product in Germany, with a slight increase in consumption (+3%) compared to last year.
Source: CIRAD
Scandinavians consume the most avocados per person
France and Germany are the main consumers of avocados in terms of volume, but Scandinavians actually are the biggest avocado consumers in terms of consumption per capita. Indeed, Nordic countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway import far fewer avocados than the French, German or the British but their population is also much smaller, which puts their consumption per capita at the top of the ranking.
The Danish are the ones who eat the most avocados, with an impressive per capita consumption of 3kg per year, while Norwegians consume an average of 2.8kg per year and the Swedish 1.9kg. For comparison, the per capita consumption in France is 2.3 kg.
Source: CIRAD
More than a third of the avocados come from Peru
Europe imports its avocados from more than 15 different countries, spread over 4 continents. But the leading supplier is Peru, covering 35% of the European imports of avocados. This is three times more than Colombia, which comes second, followed by Chile. Outside of Latin America, Israel and Spain had exceptional harvests last year, which places them fourth and fifth respectively in the ranking.
Imports to Europe in tons: Peru 304,352 tons, Colombia 86,011 tons, Chile 83,272 tons, Israel 79,526 tons and Spain 62,996 tons.
For Zac Bard, president of the World Avocado Organization, “the popularity of the avocado continues to grow for many reasons. Avocados are rich in nutrients and have many health benefits. They can be consumed in meals or as a snack, for breakfast, lunch or dinner, cooked or raw, salty or sweet! Avocados have become an essential part of any balanced diet, and their consumption has increased even more with the growing trend towards vegetarian and vegan diets. Avocados are also gaining popularity in many other countries including Italy, where consumption has increased by 37% since last year, as well as in Eastern European countries like Poland, Slovenia and Croatia, where people have also started to consume more avocados.”
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