The latest issue of the European Statistics Handbook provides current figures and grounded analyses of the major European markets, with which industry players can make better business decisions.

In preparation for the world’s leading trade fair for the fruit trade, being held from 5 to 7 April 2022, the publication not only offers current figures, but also provides grounded analyses that help the industry understand production, supplier, and trader data in a wide range of European markets.

The European Handbook 2022 now includes Portugal, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. The latter four EU members in south-eastern Europe hold great production potential that has, up until now, only partially been tapped.

One of the most important insights held by the European Statistics Handbook 2022 is the one showing that following a slump in off-trade demand in the first year of the pandemic, the situation in Europe alleviated somewhat in 2021, although the pre-2020 level was not yet reached.

“A further increase in the retail sale of fresh fruit and vegetables was thus not expected. Preliminary results from various European countries indicate stagnation or a slight dip in sale quantities but are still well above the level from 2019. Consumer spending increased slightly,” the first insight shows.

The second insight is that the usual weather-induced issues remained in 2021. Frost in southern Europe decimated the local stone fruit harvest, while heavy rain in Western Europe in mid-July affected vegetable supplies in particular. These shortages result in price hikes, which were frequently reported on in the press.

“Yet prices, especially the costs of energy and fertilizer, increased more significantly, coupled with a spike in wages. Producers and traders are thus in a more secure position than they were one year ago, despite price increases. Higher energy prices were worrying the producers involved in protected cultivation in North-western Europe, resulting in later planting times for the 2022 season,” is the third insight.

The fourth insight mentions that increased logistics costs and an unprecedented scarcity of containers threaten the external trade of many export-oriented countries. However, the effects will only be quantifiable later on, as there were no noteworthy restrictions in 2021.

Last, but not least, the effects of Brexit on the flows of goods were less considerable than originally feared, and deliveries from the mainland to the island nation decreased only slightly.

The Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) in conjunction with Fruitnet Media International created the European Statistics Handbook 2022. It was published by Fruit Logistica, which will be held in Berlin in early April.