During a conference held on the 17th of October at the International Asparagus Days, Dana Lodi from Cso illustrated some data: the majority of the asparagus sold in the EU is consumed by 4 countries only: Germany (85.000 tons), Spain (32.000 tons), Italy (24.000 tons) and France (38.000 tons).
The other countries with a significant consumption are UK, Poland and the Netherlands. Daria Lodi stated, “From a production standpoint, Germany produces 130.000 tons, followed by Spain with 63.000 tons, Italy with 46.000 tons, France with 28.000 tons and the Netherlands with 20.000 tons.
In Germany, most of these vegetables are purchased in hypermarkets (28%), followed by supermarkets (21%) and directly from the producers (16%). The consumption of organic asparagus has increased by 1% only from 2013 to 2017 – going from 5% to 6%.
In Spain, these are mostly purchased from specialized retail (41%), followed by supermarkets (26%).
In Italy, most of the purchases occur between April and May, followed by June and March. In the other months, the sales are really low. The penetration rate in households is of 43%, while the purchase per household is around 2.17 kg. The average price has gone from 4.50 euros/kg of 2013 to 4.24 of 2017.
With regard to Italian sale channels, 32% of the purchases passes through supermarkets, 19% through street markets and 18% through specialised retail.