32/2019 - 21 February 2019

Structure of orchards in 2017

Two-thirds of the EU’s fruit plantation area isconcentrated in Spain, Italy and Poland
Almost 1.3 million hectares (ha) of land in the European Union (EU) were covered with fruit trees in 2017. A little
over one third of this total was accounted for by apple orchards (473 500 ha, 37%), and another one fifth by orange
groves (255 500 ha, 20%). Of the remainder, peach orchards covered 190 500 ha (15%), small citrus fruit trees
producing satsumas and clementines in particular covered 139 600 ha (11%), pear trees covered 100 400 ha (8%),
apricots covered 75 700 ha (6%) and lemon groves a further 60 100 ha (5%). The area planted with fruit trees
accounted for around 1% of utilised agriculture area (173 million ha in 2016).
Two-thirds of the EU’s fruit plantation areas were concentrated in Spain, Italy and Poland. Spain was the leading
EU Member State in terms of the production area of fruit in 2017 (422 800 ha, or 33% of the EU total), followed byItaly (279 300 ha, or 22%) and Poland (167 300 ha, or 13%).
Compared with 2012, the area under fruit trees in the EU slightly increased (+0.4%). Between 2012 and 2017,
among the countries with largest areas covered with fruit trees, there were expansions of fruit plantations in Poland(up +16 300 ha, or +11%), in Greece (up +5 300 ha, or +6%), in Romania (up +3 400 ha, or +6%) and in Portugal(up +2 500 ha, or +7%). These offset declines elsewhere, notably in Spain (-9 800 ha less, or -2%), Italy (-6 300 ha
less, or -2%) and Czechia (-4 100 ha less, or -29%).
This information, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, comes from the results of
the latest 5-yearly EU data collection on orchards.

Poland has the largest area of apple orchards, Italy of pears and Spain of orange groves, small
citrus fruits, peaches, apricots and lemon groves
About one third of the area devoted to apple orchards in the EU was found in Poland (160 800 ha, 34 %) in 2017,with a further one quarter split between Italy and Romania (55 800 ha and 55 100 ha respectively, both around12%). Apple orchards in the EU expanded by 23 900 ha between 2012 and 2017, with most of that expansion
concentrated in Poland (+17 700 ha, or +12%), Romania (+3 800 ha or +12%) and Italy (+3 600 ha, or +7%).
There were some notable reductions, however, in Czechia (-2 700 ha, or -24%) and Slovakia (-1 500 ha, or -39%).
A little more than one-half of the EU’s orange groves area was found in Spain (135 100 ha, or 53%) in 2017, with afurther one-third being located in Italy (78 300 ha, or 31%). Most of the EU’s remaining groves were found inGreece (28 800 ha, or 11%). Between 2012 and 2017, the area of orange groves in the EU shrank by -11 700 ha,
driven by the -10% decline (or -14 900 ha fewer) in Spain.
Among Member States, Spain also had the most hectares of small citrus fruit (72 % of the EU total), of lemons(65 % of the EU total), of peaches (41% of EU total) and of apricots (32 % of the EU total). Italy had the second
highest areas planted to all of these fruit but had also the largest area dedicated to pear orchards (29 000 ha, or
29% of the EU’s total pear plantation area).

Navel oranges account for over half of the oranges, and clementines dominate the small citrus fruits
In the EU, “navel oranges” accounted for almost two-thirds (62%) of orange tree varieties in 2017 and clementines
accounted for almost two-thirds (68%) of small citrus fruit trees. The most represented variety groups of other tree
fruit in 2017 were “yellow flesh peaches” (43%), “early” apricots (42%), and “conference” pears (32%). There wasarguably more variety in apple trees, with “Golden Delicious” being the most widespread (but with only 15 % of theEU’s total apple area), followed by Idared and Jonagold/Jonagored (both 10%).

Methods and definitions
The data source is the European statistics on the structure of orchards, covered by Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011. This News
release concentrates on area under fruit trees, from a collection that monitors a wider range of permanent crops such as fruittrees, olive trees and on voluntary basis vines producing grapes for table use. The statistical surveys on orchard area arecarried out every five years by the EU Member States in order to determine the production potential of plantations of certain
species of fruit trees.
Data production threshold:
Only EU Member States having a minimum planted area of 1000 hectares (ha) are included in the data collection.

For more information
Eurostat website section dedicated to agricultural statistics.
Eurostat database on agriculture.
Eurostat metadata on orchard statistics.
Eurostat statistical book "Agriculture, forestry and fishery statistics" (2018 edition).
Eurostat Statistic Explained article on agricultural production – orchards.

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office

Production of data:

Renata PALEN
Tel: +352-4301-33 444
eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu

Edward COOK
Tel: +352-4301-38 986
edward.cook@ec.europa.eu

EurostatStatistics

ec.europa.eu/eurostat@EU_Eurostat

Media requests: Eurostat media support / Tel: +352-4301-33 408 / eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu

Area under apple, orange, peach, small citrus fruit, pear, apricot and lemon trees, 2017
ApplesOrangesPeaches

Smallcitrus
fruitsPears

1.295.407

473.550255.534

190.549

139.595

100.383

14.730

5.789

:

:

:

12.199

5.148

:

3.663

:

9.841

7.819

::

1.628

1.314

:

:

36.11833.981

::

::

Total
area (in ha)EU
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czechia
Denmark
Germany
Estonia
Ireland
GreeceSpain
FranceCroatia
Italy
Cyprus
LatviaLithuania
Luxembourg
Hungary
Malta
Netherlands
Austria
PolandPortugal
Romania
Slovenia
Slovakia
FinlandSwedenUnited Kingdom
SerbiaApricots

Lemons

75.69760.099

8.941

:

:

:

3.388

:

:

870

1.152

:

:

314

:

:

:

:

2.137

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

90.5889.377

28.78433.770

6.464

3.304

4.903

3.985

422.80927.532135.092

78.91599.98918.10824.06539.10869.83238.298:

10.920

1.749

5.250

13.616

:

6.181

4.459

:

:

1.722

:::

279.28155.81078.34854.19626.71728.62318.894

16.694

3.286

377

1.109

299

933

71

186

312

3.191

3.191

::::::

1.512

1.512

::::::::::::::

36.29125.044

:

3.509

:

2.335

5.404

:

::::::::

16.691

6.950

:::

9.742

::

9.519

7.675

:

218

:

621

1.005

:

167.315160.844

:

716

:

5.032

723

:

38.33211.30612.2022.498

2.02110.306::

62.48955.050

:

1.846

:

3.231

:

:

2.355

2.355

:

:

:

:

:

:

2.321

2.321

:

:

:

::::

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

1.655

:

::

:

:

:

:

7.242
5.743
43.96225.281: not applicable (less than 1000 hectares of plantation)
The source dataset can be found here.

:
:

:
7.160

:
:

1.499
5.734

:
5.787

:
: