Key figures on the European food chain : 2021 edition.
Date: 2021-12-22
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: Community fisheries, EU Member State, EU statistics, agricultural production, agricultural statistics, fishing statistics, food chain, food consumption, sustainable agriculture, sustainable fisheries

Key figures on the 

European food chain 2021 edition

K E Y 
F I G U R E S

2021 edition

List of countries 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Czechia

Denmark 

Germany 

Estonia 

Ireland 

Greece 

Spain 

France 

Croatia 

Italy 

Cyprus 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Hungary 

Malta 

Netherlands 

Austria 

Poland 

Portugal 

Romania 

Slovenia 

Slovakia 

Finland 

Sweden 

Iceland

Liechtenstein

Norway

Switzerland

BE

BG 

CZ 

DK

DE 

EE 

IE 

EL

ES 

FR 

HR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

HU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PL 

PT 

RO 

SI 

SK 

FI 

SE 

IS

LI

NO

CH

SWEDEN
Stockholm

FINLAND

Helsinki

Tallinn
ESTONIA

Riga

LATVIA

LITHUANIA
Vilnius

Dublin

IRELAND

DENMARK
Copenhagen

NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam

Berlin

Brussels

BELGIUM

GERMANY

Paris

LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg

FRANCE

Prague
CZECHIA

Vienna

AUSTRIA

Warsaw

POLAND

SLOVAKIA

Bratislava

Budapest

HUNGARY

SLOVENIA
Ljubljana

Zagreb
CROATIA

PORTUGAL

Lisbon

Madrid

SPAIN

0

500 km

ITALY
Rome

Valletta

MALTA

ROMANIA

Bucharest

BULGARIA
Sofia

GREECE

Athens

CYPRUS

Nicosia

BernVaduzOsloReykjavíkSWITZERLANDLIECHTENSTEINNORWAYICELANDKey figures on the 
European food chain

2021 edition

Printed by Imprimerie Bietlot in Belgium

Manuscript completed in December 2021

This document should not be considered as representative of the European Commission’s 

official position.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021

© European Union, 2021

The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented based 
on Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of 
Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39).

Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under a 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence (https://
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provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated.

For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the European 
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following elements:

Maps, administrative boundaries © EuroGeographics © UN-FAO © Turkstat

The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on the maps do 
not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Theme: Agriculture and fisheries
Collection: Key figures

Print:  ISBN 978-92-76-41515-2 
PDF:  ISBN 978-92-76-41514-5 

ISSN 1977-2262  
ISSN 2363-2488   

doi: 10.2785/277965 
doi: 10.2785/180958 

KS-FK-21-001-EN-C
KS-FK-21-001-EN-N

Foreword

I am pleased to present this first edition of Key figures 
on the European food chain. This new publication 
responds to interest in the European Commission’s 
Farm to Fork Strategy, which is an integral part 
of the new European Green Deal that sets out to 
make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 
2050. The Farm to Fork Strategy aims to establish 
a sustainable food system in the European Union 
that is fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly. Its 
goals are to ensure that the food chain has a neutral 
or positive environmental impact, that everyone has 
access to sufficient, nutritious, sustainable food, and 
that the most sustainable food also becomes the most 
affordable.

While some products are sold raw (for example milk, 
fruit and vegetables) or processed (such as wine and 
olive oil) directly from farms, most pass through a 
much more complex food chain. Primary agricultural 
and fishing products that have been sold by producers 
or imported, may be graded and packaged, processed, 
transported and wholesaled, before being retailed in 
supermarkets, grocery shops, specialist food retailers 
or markets — or served directly to consumers as food 
and beverages in restaurants, bars, cafés, and other 
food and beverage outlets.

Key figures on the European food chain starts with an 
overview of agriculture and fisheries, focusing on 
production. It then turns to the processing, distribution 
and consumption of food and beverages. It finishes 
with a chapter concerning environmental issues 
related to various stages of the food chain. Data are 
presented for the European Union (EU), its individual 
Member States and European Free Trade Agreement 
(EFTA) countries, drawing from the rich collection of 

data that are available at Eurostat. The publication aims 
to provide intuitive visualisations and innovative data 
presentations supported by concise texts.

For most datasets, statistics are available until 2019 or 
2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions 
have impacted on almost every aspect of life in the EU 
(and further afield) since March 2020. The pandemic 
itself and the accompanying restrictions have impacted 
on the supply of and demand for many goods and 
services produced and traded within the EU’s business 
economy. Although it is too soon to evaluate the full 
impact of the crisis, the asymmetric impact of the crisis 
during 2020 on some stages of the food chain can 
be clearly seen: the supply and demand for food and 
beverages in retailing was relatively stable, while there 
was a large contraction in turnover for restaurants, 
bars and cafés. Eurostat’s most up-to-date statistics 
showing a broad range of economic and social impacts 
of the COVID-19 crisis can be found online at: https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/covid-19/overview.

I hope that you find this publication interesting and 
useful.

Viveka Palm
Director of sectoral and regional statistics, Eurostat

3

Key figures on European business — 2021 edition   Foreword

Abstract

Key figures on the European food chain presents a selection of indicators concerning 
the food chain, from primary production in agriculture and fisheries through to 
consumption. Data are presented for the European Union (EU), its individual Member 
States and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries.

This publication may be viewed as an introduction to agriculture, fisheries and food 
chain statistics and provides a starting point for those who wish to explore the wide 
range of data that are freely available on Eurostat’s website at https://ec.europa.eu/
eurostat together with a range of online articles in Statistics Explained.

Editor

Edward Cook 
Eurostat, Unit E1 — Agriculture and fisheries

Contact details

Eurostat 
Bâtiment Joseph Bech 
5, rue Alphonse Weicker 
2721 Luxembourg 
E-mail: estat-user-support@ec.europa.eu

Design

Publications Office of the European Union, Graphic Design Department

Production

This publication was produced by Giovanni Albertone, Simon Allen and Andrew Redpath 
— INFORMA s.à r.l.

For more information please consult

Eurostat’s website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat 
Statistics Explained: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained

Acknowledgements

The editor of this publication would like to thank colleagues in Eurostat and in the 
Publications Office of the EU who were involved in its preparation.

4

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Table of contents

Foreword  

Introduction  

1.  Farms and farm labour force  

2.  Agricultural products  

3.  Agricultural output value and economic performance  

4.  Fishing and aquaculture  

5.  Processing of food and beverages  

6.  Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products  

7.  Transport  

8.  Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages  

9.  Human consumption of food and beverages  

10. Agriculture and food: environment  

 3

 6

 9

 21

 39

 49

 57

 65

 73

 79

 87

 95

5

Key figures on European business — 2021 edition   Introduction

Introduction

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European 
Union (EU) situated in Luxembourg. Its mission is 
to provide high quality statistics and data on Europe. 
Key information on the EU’s economy, society and 
environment may be of interest to the general public 
and decision makers.

Key figures on the European food chain describes 
the EU’s food chain, from primary production in 
agriculture and fisheries through to consumption. 
For most datasets, statistics are available until 2019 
or 2020. As a consequence, only initial findings of 
the COVID-19 related impact on the food chain are 
provided. The full scale of the impact of the crisis 
will be revealed at a later date, not only when the 
pandemic has come to an end, but also when more 
recent data become available for a full range of 
statistics.

activities, as well as the use of land for agriculture 
and the size of the fishing fleet.

• 

It then moves on to downstream activities, such as 
the processing, wholesaling, retailing and serving 
of food and beverages. It also includes chapters 
concerning the import and export of agricultural 
products, food and beverages, as well as their 
transport. It brings the food chain to its end, looking 
at consumption.

•  The publication finishes with one chapter looking at 
a selection of environmental issues related to various 
stages of the food chain, including pesticide use and 
greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, as well as 
waste generation.

Whilst this publication provides a concise overview 
of the EU’s food chain, a number of QR codes have 
also been included; these give links to more detailed 
analysis in the form of Statistics Explained articles 
on Eurostat’s website.

Structure of the publication

Data extraction and coverage

Data extraction

The statistical data presented in this publication 
were generally extracted in October 2021. Data for 
Chapter 3 on agricultural output value and economic 
performance were extracted in mid-November 2021.

Key figures on the European food chain provides 
users of official statistics with an overview of the 
wealth of information that is available on Eurostat’s 
website and within its online databases concerning 
the food chain. 

The publication groups together distinct parts:

• 

It starts with an overview of agriculture and 
fisheries. While the main focus is on the production 
of agricultural and fishery products, this section 
also includes information on employment in these 

6

  Key figures on European business — 2021 edition Spatial data coverage

Temporal data coverage

This publication presents information for the EU (a 
sum/average covering the 27 Member States of the 
EU) as well as the individual EU Member States and 
the four EFTA countries. The order of the Member 
States and EFTA countries in the illustrations usually 
reflects their ranking according to the values for (one 
of) the indicator(s) illustrated.

The map presented on the inside of the cover 
identifies the EU Member States and the EFTA 
countries, as well as pinpointing their capital cities.

Codes for EU Member States and EFTA 
countries

BE  Belgium
BG Bulgaria
CZ  Czechia
DK Denmark
DE  Germany
EE  Estonia
Ireland
IE 
EL  Greece
ES  Spain
FR  France
HR Croatia
IT 
Italy
CY  Cyprus
LV  Latvia
LT  Lithuania
LU  Luxembourg

HU Hungary
MT Malta
NL  Netherlands
AT  Austria
PL  Poland
PT  Portugal
RO Romania
SI  Slovenia
SK  Slovakia
FI  Finland
SE  Sweden

IS 
Iceland
LI  Liechtenstein
NO Norway
CH Switzerland

If data for a reference year (or reference period) are 
not available for the EU, a particular Member State 
or EFTA country, then efforts have been made to 
complete the coverage using data for recent previous 
reference years (these exceptions are footnoted). 
Particular attention should be paid to these deviations 
when the standard reference year is 2020, as for some 
indicators — particularly those impacted by the 
COVID-19 pandemic — large changes in 2020 mean 
that earlier data may not be a good proxy for missing 
2020 data.

Economic activity coverage

The statistical classification of economic activities in 
the European Community (NACE Rev. 2) is used to 
define economic activities. Within this publication, 
the following terms related to economic activities are 
applied, all based on the NACE Rev. 2 classification.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing — Section A

•  Agriculture (officially crop and animal production, 

hunting and related service activities) — Division 01

•  Fishing and aquaculture — Division 03

Food and beverage (F&B) processing

•  Manufacture of food products — Division 10
•  Manufacture of beverages — Division 11

Wholesaling, retailing and serving of food and 
beverages (F&B)

•  F&B wholesaling (includes tobacco wholesaling)

 – F&B wholesale agents — Class 46.17
 – F&B wholesale resellers — Group 46.3

7

Key figures on European business — 2021 edition   Introduction

•  F&B retailing (includes tobacco retailing)

 – Non-specialised in-store F&B retail — Class 47.11
 – Specialised in-store F&B retail — Group 47.2
 – F&B retail via stalls and markets — Class 47.81

•  F&B serving (includes restaurants, bars, cafés and 
other food and beverage outlets) — Division 56

In Chapter 5, data for F&B processing are compared 
with the manufacturing total, which is defined 
in NACE as Section C. In Chapter 8, data for the 
wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B are 
compared with the total for non-financial services, 
which is defined as NACE Sections G to J and L to N 
and Division 95.

For more information about the NACE Rev. 2 
classification, please refer to: https://ec.europa.eu/
eurostat/web/nace-rev2/overview.

Notes and flags

Notes and flags are means of explaining and defining 
specific characteristics of particular data. In this 
publication, these have been restricted to the main 
notes required for interpretation of the data and to 
highlight when data for one year has been replaced 
with data for another. Where data for a particular 
indicator are not shown in individual illustrations this 
is because the required data are not available or are 
confidential. A full set of notes and flags are available 
on Eurostat’s website via the online data code(s).

Accessing European statistics

The simplest way to obtain Eurostat’s wide range of 
statistical information is through its website (https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat). Eurostat provides users with 
free access to its databases and its publications 
in portable document format (PDF). The website 
is updated daily and presents the latest and most 
comprehensive statistical information available on the 
EU, its Member States, the EFTA countries, as well as 
enlargement countries (for some datasets information 
may be provided for a wider range of non-member 
countries).

Eurostat online data codes, such as ef_lus_main, allow 
easy access to the most recent data on Eurostat’s 
website (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/
database). In this publication these online data codes 
are given as part of the source below each illustration.

Some of the indicators presented in this publication 
are relatively complex. Statistics Explained provides 
a comprehensive online glossary with definitions 
for a broad range of statistical indicators, concepts 
and terms; it is organised under thematic headings 
(https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/
index.php?title=Thematic_glossaries).

8

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 1

Farms and farm 
labour force

1 Farms and farm labour force

15,8

75 

IE

3,7

3,7

6,3

6,3

9,5

9,5

3,7

6,3

3,7

9,5

3,7

9,5

3,7

3,7

19,0

9,5

19,0

6,3

31,6

6,3

6,3

3,7

70  DK

68  HU

66  AT

63  CZ, SK

60  ES
59  RO

57  NL
IT
56 

53  LU, PL
52  DE
51  LT, PT

48  LV
47  EU, BE
46  FR
45  BG, SI

39  MT

36  EL

30  HR

28  EE

18  FI

16  SE

14  CY

10

Farmland

Land belonging to farms 
(% share of total land area, 2016) 

Farms covered 
47 %  of the 
total land area 
in 2016

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ef_lus_main and reg_area3)

Farming is about growing crops and raising 
livestock. It provides key primary ingredients 
for food and drink. Statistics on farmland and 
farms are taken from the 2016 farm structure 
survey. This survey is carried out every 3-4 years 
to identify structural changes. During 2020 
a global agricultural census took place; 
consolidated results for the EU are expected 
during the second half of 2022.

Farm land use
(% share of total utilised agricultural area, 2016)

Farms covered 191.9 million hectares of land in 
the EU in 2016, equivalent to 47 % of the total 
land area. This share of farm area within the 
total land area ranged from less than one fifth in 
Cyprus, Sweden and Finland to close to two thirds 
in Austria, Hungary and Denmark and reached 
three quarters in Ireland.

100

80

60

40

20

0

I

KF
D

E
S

U
H

T
M

Y
C

L
P

T
L

G
B

Z
C

K
S

E
D

E
E

V
L

R
F

E
B

O
R

U
E

L
N

T

I

R
H

T
A

S
E

U
L

L
E

I

TS
P

E

I

  Arable land 

  Permanent grassland

  Permanent crops

  Other 

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: ef_lus_main)

More than four fifths (81.6 %) of the farm area in the 
EU was used for agricultural production in 2016, a 
total of 156.7 million hectares; this is known as the 
utilised agricultural area. The remaining share of 
the EU’s farm area was either wooded areas (14.0 % 
of the farm area) or land unsuitable for production 
(4.3 %), for example that covered by buildings, 
roads and water areas.

France and Spain had the largest utilised 
agricultural areas in the EU in 2016, 17.8 % and 
14.8 % respectively of the EU total.

More than three fifths (62.0 %) of the EU’s utilised 
agricultural area was arable land used to produce 
crops for human and animal consumption. 
Permanent grassland accounted for almost one 
third (31.2 %) of the utilised agricultural area and 
was mainly used to provide further fodder and 
forage for animals. The remaining share was used 
almost exclusively for permanent crops (6.7 %) such 
as fruit, olives and grapes.

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Farms

Distribution of farms and 
farmland by farm size
(% share of total, EU, 2016) 

There were 10.3 million agricultural holdings 
(simply referred to as farms) in the EU in 2016. 
One third (33.3 %) of these were located in 
Romania, with more than one tenth in Poland 
(13.7 %) and Italy (11.1 %) and just under one 
tenth (9.2 %) in Spain.

The average (mean) size of a farm in the EU in 
2016 was 15.2 hectares. However, two thirds of 
the EU’s farms were less than 5 hectares in size 
and only one tenth of the farms in the EU had 
30 hectares or more. The largest size category 
of farms, those with at least 100 hectares, 
accounted for 3.0 % of the total number 
of farms, but collectively had around half 
(50.4 %) of the total area used for agricultural 
production in the EU. As such, there were very 
many semi-subsistence farms in the EU and 
only a few very large ones.

Overall change in farms and 
farmland
(%, EU, 2005-2016) 

There were about 4.1 million fewer farms in 
the EU in 2016 than in 2005, a decrease of 
28 % (1). The vast majority of the decrease 
in farm numbers concerned farms less than 
5 hectares in size; there were 3.5 million fewer 
farms in this category during the period 
under consideration. The only category of 
farms for which an increase in farm numbers 
was observed was for farms with at least 
100 hectares. As the overall area used for 
agricultural production in the EU hardly 
changed between 2005 and 2016 (a decrease 
of 0.2 %), the falling number of farms among 
all size categories except for the largest reflects 
mergers or takeovers of farms.

Farms and farm labour force

1

  Farms

  Utilised agricultural area

0.0
hectares

> 0.0-1.9
hectares

2.0-4.9
hectares

5.0-9.9
hectares

10.0-19.9
hectares

20.0-29.9
hectares

30.0-49.9
hectares

50.0-99.9
hectares

≥ 100.0
hectares

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

Source: Eurostat (online data code: ef_m_farmleg)

  Farms

  Utilised agricultural area

Total 
(all farms)
0.0
hectares

> 0.0-1.9
hectares

2.0-4.9
hectares

5.0-9.9
hectares

10.0-19.9
hectares

20.0-29.9
hectares

30.0-49.9
hectares

50.0-99.9
hectares

≥ 100.0
hectares

(1)  Some of this observed change may reflect 

methodological difference in the statistics for 2005 
and 2016.

Note: 2005 includes 2007 data for HR.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
ef_m_farmleg)

-40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5

0

5

10

15

20

11

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     1 Farms and farm labour force

Farm specialisations
(% share of all farms, EU, 2016)

About one half (52.9 %) of all 
farms in 2016 were categorised as 
specialist crop farms: just under 
one third (31.7 %) of all farms were 
specialised in field cropping, about one 
fifth (19.3 %) in permanent crops and a 
small share (1.8 %) in horticulture.

Another one quarter (24.5 %) of the EU’s 
farms were specialist livestock farms. 
Specialisations in sheep, goats and 
other grazing livestock were the most 
common (5.7 % of all farms), followed 
by dairying (5.4 %) and poultry (4.5 %).

Mixed farming comprises farms with 
crops and livestock, farms with various 
types of crops and farms with various 
types of livestock. As a whole, mixed 
farms accounted for just over one fifth 
(21.4 %) of all farms in the EU.

Some farms (1.3 % of the total) were 
‘non-classified farms’.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
ef_m_farmleg)

12

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Mixed livestock, mainly granivores0.752.9Cropspecialist24.5Livestock specialist21.4Mixed farmingGeneral fieldcropping16.4Cereals, oilseedand protein crops15.3Various crops and livestock combined10.3Olives7.8Sheep, goats andother grazing livestock5.7Dairying5.4Fruit andcitrus fruit5.2Mixed cropping4.8Poultry4.5Vineyards4.4Cattle-rearing and fattening3.6Mixed livestock, mainly grazing livestock2.8Field crops-grazing livestock combined2.7Various granivores combined2.6Variouspermanent crops1.9Horticulture1.8Pigs1.61.3Non-classified farmsNon-classified farms1.3Cattle-dairying, rearing and fattening combined1.1Change in farm specialisations
(% share of all farms, 2005 and 2016)

Farms and farm labour force

1

100

Crop
specialist

0

100

Livestock
specialist

E

U B
E

G
B

Z
C

K
D

E
D

E
E

E

I

L
E

S
E

R
F

R
H

T

I

Y
C

V
L

T
L

U
L

U
H

T
M

L
N

T
A

L
P

T
P

I

O S
R

I

K F
S

E
S

0
100

E

U B
E

G
B

Z
C

K
D

E
D

E
E

E

I

L
E

S
E

R
F

R
H

T

I

Y
C

V
L

T
L

U
L

U
H

T
M

L
N

T
A

L
P

T
P

I

O S
R

I

K F
S

E
S

Mixed
farming

100

0

E

U B
E

Non-classiﬁed
farms

0

E

U B
E

G
B

Z
C

K
D

E
D

E
E

E

I

L
E

S
E

R
F

R
H

T

I

Y
C

V
L

T
L

U
L

U
H

T
M

L
N

T
A

L
P

T
P

I

O S
R

I

K F
S

E
S

G
B

Z
C

K
D

E
D

E
E

E

I

L
E

S
E

R
F

R
H

T

I

Y
C

V
L

T
L

U
L

U
H

T
M

L
N

T
A

L
P

T
P

I

O S
R

I

K F
S

E
S

100

80

60

40

20

0

100

80

60

40

20

0

80

60

40
100
20
80
0
60

40

20

0

Between 2005 and 2016, in terms of farm numbers there was a notable move 
away from mixed farms towards crop specialists: the proportion of livestock 
specialists remained stable.

The largest increases in the share of crop specialists between 2005 and 2016 
were observed in Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria. Cyprus was the only 
Member State to record a fall in its share of crop specialists (although from a 
very high level, as Cyprus had the highest share of crop specialists in 2005).

 2005
  2016

Note: EU, 2005 includes 2007 data for 
HR. HR: 2007 instead of 2005.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
ef_m_farmleg)

13

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     1 Farms and farm labour force

Organic farming

Organic area
(% share of total utilised agricultural area, 2012 and 2019)

EU 
5.9 % 
in 2012  
8.5 %   
in 2019 

  2012
  2019

T
A

E
E

E
S

H
C

Z
C

T

I

V
L

I

KF
D

I

KS
S

L
E

S

UE
E

T
P

T
L

E
D

R
F

R
H

E
B

U
H

Y
C

O
N

U
L

L
N

L
P

O
R

G
B

E

I

T
M

S

I

Note: includes fully converted areas and areas under conversion. 
IS: 2013 instead of 2012.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: org_cropar)

Organic farming is a method that aims to use natural 
substances and processes and to do so in a more 
sustainable way than conventional farming. The EU’s 
Farm to Fork Strategy set an objective that at least 25 % 
of the EU’s agricultural land should be farmed using 
organic processes by 2030.

In 2019, the area used for organic agricultural 
production within the EU was 13.8 million hectares. 
The total organic area in the EU increased by 4.3 million 
hectares between 2012 and 2019, equivalent to a rise of 
almost one half (45.9 %). The share of the total utilised 

agricultural area that was organic increased from 5.9 % 
in 2012 to 8.5 % in 2019. During this period, the share of 
the agricultural area used for organic farming increased 
in all EU Member States except for Poland.

In 2019, the highest shares of organic farm areas within 
the total utilised agricultural area were in Austria 
(25.3 %), Estonia (22.3 %) and Sweden (20.4 %). By 
contrast, the share of organic farming was below 5.0 % 
in seven EU Member States, with the lowest shares in 
Ireland (1.6 %) and Malta (0.5 %).

Share of EU organic area
(%, 2019)

Nearly half (47.7 %) of the EU’s total organic area in 2019 
was located in three EU Member States: Spain (17.1 %), 
France (16.2 %) and Italy (14.4 %). The next largest 
shares were in Germany, Austria and Sweden.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: org_cropar)

30
30

25

20

15

10

5

0

14

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition ESFRITDEATSEOther (EU) 33.6 4.44.99.4 14.4 16.2 17.1 Farms and farm labour force

1

Organic area for fresh vegetables and cereals
(% share of utilised agricultural area, 2019)

EU
9.7 %

Fresh
vegetables

Cereals

U
L

K
D

T
A

H
C

T

I

E
S

V
L

L
P

R
F

E
D

U
E

K
S

L
N

G
B

T
P

E

I

I

EF
E

S
E

U
H

I

ES
B

O
N

Y
C

L
E

T
L

S

I

Z
C

R
H

O
R

EU
4.3 %

T
A

E
E

E
S

HI
T
C

V
L

K
D

T
L

I

LF
E

E
D

U
E

U
L

E
B

Y
C

R
F

S
E

R
H

Z
C

K
S

S
OI
N

I

OS
R

L
N

T
P

L
P

U
H

E
GI
B

Note: vegetables including melons and strawberries. MT: not 
available.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: org_cropar and apro_cpsh1)

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

00

20

15

10

5

0

Cereals and fresh vegetables are among the main 
arable crops, along with root crops, green fodder and 
industrial crops.

The area used for the organic farming of fresh vegetables 
in the EU was 205 thousand hectares in 2019, equivalent 
to 0.1 % of all land used for agricultural production. 
About one tenth (9.7 %) of the land used for the 
production of fresh vegetables in the EU was farmed 
organically. Luxembourg, Denmark and Austria had 
notably higher shares of organic farming within their 
total area of land used for growing fresh vegetables.

The area used for the organic farming of cereals in the 
EU was 2.3 million hectares in 2019, equivalent to 1.4 % 
of all land used for agricultural production. Some 4.3 % 
of the land used for the production of cereals in the EU 
was farmed organically. Austria, Estonia, Sweden and 
Italy had the highest shares of organic farming within 
their total area of land used for growing cereals.

15

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     1 Farms and farm labour force

Farmers

Age and sex of farm managers
(% share of all farm managers, EU, 2016)

≥ 65 years

20.8
12.0

18.2
6.8

17.5
5.5

10.9
3.2

3.6
1.1

0.4
0.1

16

55-64 years

45-54 years

35-44 years

25-34 years

< 40 years

< 25 years

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
ef_m_farmang)

   Male
  Female

Seven in every ten (71.3 %) farm managers 
on the EU’s 10.3 million farms in 2016 were 
male. A majority (57.9 %) of farm managers 
were at least 55 years of age, while only 
about 1 in every 10 (10.7 %) were young 
farm managers — defined here as those 
under the age of 40 years.

Older farm managers tended to work 
on the smallest farms (when measured 
in economic terms or in relation to their 
agricultural area), while younger farm 
managers tended to work on larger farms. 
Whereas farm managers under 40 years 
of age accounted for 10.7 % of EU farm 
managers, they managed 16.1 % of the 
total utilised agricultural area. By contrast, 
older farm mangers tended to work on 
very small (semi-subsistence) and small 
farms: almost one third (32.8 %) of EU farm 
managers were aged 65 years or more, 
together they managed 14.9 % of the total 
utilised agricultural area.

71.3 % 
of the total 
were men
in 2016

28.7 % 
of the total 
were women
in 2016

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Farms and farm labour force

1

Overall change in the number of farm managers
(%, 2005-2016)

Developments by sex and age, EU

0

-20

-40

-60

-80

Total

< 25 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

≥ 65 years

Developments by sex
20

Male

Female

10

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

-60

-70

E

I

I

SS
E

T
M

E
S

L
E

R
F

U
L

O
R

T
P

T
A

Y
C

R
H

E

UB
E

E
D

I

LF
N

K
D

T

I

Z
C

E
E

U
H

T
L

L
P

V
L

G
B

K
S

Note: EU data for 2005 includes 2007 data for HR. Ranked on overall 
change for both sexes (male and female). HR: 2007-2016.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: ef_m_farmang)

Alongside the decrease in the number of farms, the 
number of farm managers fell 28.5 % between 2005 
and 2016. The number of male farm managers declined 
at a faster rate (down 30.8 %) than that for female farm 
managers (down 22.4 %). The number of farm mangers 
decreased among all age groups, with the largest 
decreases in relative terms among younger ones: down 
47.3 % among those farmer managers aged 25-34 years 
and down 41.0 % among those farm managers younger 
than 25 years.

In most of the EU Member States, the overall decline in 
the number of farm managers ranged from a decrease 
of 9.4 % in Slovenia to a decrease of 45.7 % in Latvia. 
The decreases in Bulgaria and Slovakia (down 62.1 % 
and 62.5 %) were even larger, indicating that the 
numbers of farm managers (and therefore farms) in 
these two countries in 2016 were less than half what 
they had been in 2005. Ireland was an exception, as 
there was a 3.7 % increase in the number of farm 
managers.

17

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     1 Farms and farm labour force

Farm workforce

Employment in agriculture, hunting and related service activities
(% share of total employment, 2000 and 2019)

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

EU 
8.2 % 
in 2000  
4.4 %   
in 2018 

O
R

G
B

L
E

L
P

T
P

I

TS
L

V
L

R
H

U
E

E

I

S
E

U
H

T

I

Y
C

T
A

Z
C

R
F

I

LF
N

K
D

E
E

K
S

S
OI
N

E
D

E
S

E
B

U
L

I
L

T
M

  2000
 2019

Note: EU, RO, LT, LV, NO, SE and LI, 2018 
instead of 2019. IS and LI: 2000, not 
available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
nama_10_a64_e)

In 2018, there were 9.1 million people working (2) in agriculture (including 
hunting and related service activities) in the EU, the equivalent of 4.4 % of total 
employment. As the number of farms in the EU declined, so did agricultural 
employment. Agriculture’s share of employment in the EU fell from 8.2 % in 2000 
to 4.4 % in 2018.

Agriculture is a particularly big employer in Romania, accounting for more than 
one in every five persons employed (22.7 %) in 2018. Agriculture also accounted 
for more than one tenth of total employment in 2019 in Bulgaria and Greece. By 
contrast, its share was less than 2.0 % in 2019 in Slovakia, Germany, Sweden (2018 
data), Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta.

As a share of total employment, the largest fall in agricultural employment since 
2000 was observed in Romania (down 21.8 percentage points; 2000-2018).

(2)  Note that simple counts of employed persons do not take into account the extent of part-

time work in different economic activities.  

18

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural workforce characteristics
(EU, 2020)

Average number of
 actual weekly hours
 in main job (hours)

Share of
 employed persons
 working long hours
 in main job (%)

Share of employed
 persons in precarious
 employment (%)

Incidence rate of fatal
 accidents at work
 (per 100 000 persons
 in employment) (1)

Incidence rate
 of non-fatal
 accidents at work 
(per 100 000 persons
 in employment) (2)

Share of workforce
 with no more than
 a lower secondary
 level of education 
(ISCED levels 0-2)

Share of work
force with a tertiary
 level of education 
(ISCED levels 5-8)

Share of 
women in total 
employment (%)

7.5

2.2

1.8

16.6

10.6

Share of family
 workers in total 
employment (%)

1.0

Share of 
self-employment 
in total 
employment (%)

14.1

Agricultural workforce
Total workforce

39.0

35.8

21.7

8.0

6.0

1 963.8

1 659.1

34.6

38.8

35.7

46.0

15.7

53.7

Farms and farm labour force

1

In many respects, the agricultural 
workforce differs from the overall workforce 
in the EU. Average working hours are 
longer than typical, reaching 39.0 hours 
in agriculture in 2020, compared with an 
average of 35.8 hours. This is reinforced by 
the fact that 21.7 % of people working in 
agriculture worked long hours (49 hours 
or more per week), nearly three times the 
average share (7.5 %) for all persons in 
employment.

In 2020, precarious employment — having 
a short-term contract of up to three 
months — was 3.6 times as common in 
the EU’s agricultural workforce (8.0 %) as in 
all activities (2.2 %).

As well as differences concerning 
working conditions, the characteristics 
of agricultural workers in the EU were 
also atypical. The share with a low level 
of education in 2020 was relatively high 
(38.8 %), more than double the average for 
all persons in employment (16.6 %), while 
the share with a high level of education 
was relatively low in agriculture, 10.6 % 
compared with 35.7 % for the whole 
workforce.

In terms of working status, agriculture 
differed in two respects from the overall 
workforce in the EU. The shares of family 
workers and of self-employment were both 
considerably higher in agriculture, 15.7 % 
(compared with an average of 1.0 %) for 
the former and 53.7 % (compared with an 
average of 14.1 %) for the latter.

Note: figures shown cover all persons aged 15 years 
and over in employment.
(1)  2018. Based on accidents that lead to the death of 
a victim within one year of the accident. Including 
forestry and fishing activities.

(2)  2018. Based on accidents that lead to more 

than three calendar days of absence from work. 
Including forestry and fishing activities.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: lfsa_ewhan2, 
lfsa_qoe_3a2, lfsa_qoe_4ax1r2, hsw_n2_02, 
hsw_n2_01, lfsa_egised, lfsa_egaps, lfsa_egan2 and 
lfsa_esgan2)

19

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     3 Agricultural 
products2

2 Agricultural products

Crop production

Production of selected crops
(million tonnes, EU, 2020)

CEREALS

Common wheat and spelt

Grain maize and corn-cob-mix

Barley

Rye and maslin

Oats

Durum wheat

ROOT CROPS

Sugar beet

Potatoes

OILSEEDS

Rape and turnip rape seeds

Sunﬂower seed

Soya

FRESH VEGETABLES

PERMANENT CROPS

Grapes

Olives

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to encourage a more sustainable and resilient form of 
farming, whereby consumers feel closer to the food that they eat, for example choosing 
fresher, locally farmed, less processed and/or sustainably sourced food. The strategy aims to 
reward farmers and other operators in the food chain who have undergone this transition to 
sustainable practices.

Crop production is sensitive to weather conditions throughout the growing season and at 
harvest, as well as to other factors like soil quality, nutrient availability and pests; they impact 
on both yields (the quantity of crops harvested per hectare of cultivated land) and quality. 
However, as the EU covers a large area with a wide range of climates the impact of poor 
conditions on the harvest in one region may be offset by better conditions in another.

In 2020, some of the principal crops harvested in the EU — in quantity terms — included 
common wheat and spelt (119.1 million tonnes), sugar beet (100.1 million tonnes), grain maize 
and corn-cob mix (67.8 million tonnes), fresh vegetables (62.9 million tonnes; note this figure 
excludes the harvested production of potatoes), barley (54.7 million tonnes) and potatoes 
(54.0 million tonnes).

Note: data are shown 
for selected crops; the 
list is not exhaustive.
Fresh vegetables 
include melons and 
strawberries.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: apro_cpnh1)

22

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Developments of crop production
(2000 = 100 based on tonnes, EU, 2000-2020)

Agricultural products

2

Common 
wheat and 
spelt

Barley

Rye and maslin

Oats

Durum wheat

Dry pulses

Potatoes

Rape and turnip 
rape seeds

Tomatoes

Olives

0
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

0
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

0
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

0
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

0
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

Note: estimates made for the purpose 
of this publication. Data are shown for 
selected crops that have a relatively 
complete time series for the EU; 
some gaps have been filled using 
interpolation.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: 
apro_cpnh1 and apro_cpsh1)

When making decisions on which crops to sow every year, farmers have to 
think, among other issues, about crop rotations, anticipated profitability, 
whether there is a market for the crop, whether they have the right equipment 
and whether there have been policy changes. These decisions also have an 
impact on the level of production of specific crops from one year to the next.

This annual decision-making is less relevant for farmers of permanent crops, 
like olives, apples and grapes. However, there can be strong annual fluctuations 
in production levels, not only because of weather conditions and disease but 
also because olive trees and some fruit trees have a biennial bearing: a heavy 
load is generally followed by a lighter one.

Overall during the period from 2000 to 2020, there was a considerable increase 
in the level of EU harvested production for rape and turnip rape seeds, while 
production was also notably higher for common wheat and spelt. By contrast, 
the EU’s harvested production of potatoes followed a downward development 
during the last two decades, with the production of durum wheat and of rye 
and maslin also falling.

23

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

Developments of output price indices for crop products
(2015 = 100, EU, 2015-2020)

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

24

Cereals

Sugar beet

Potatoes

Oilseeds and 
oleaginous fruits

Fresh vegetables

Fruits

Wine

Olive oil

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
apri_pi15_outa)

The important role of climatic and other natural conditions on the quantity 
and quality of harvested production is usually extended, as they tend to have a 
knock-on impact on prices to balance supply and demand. During the whole 
of the period 2015-2020, the largest output (or producer) price fluctuations in 
the EU (among those crops for which information is shown) were recorded for 
potatoes, olive oil and fruits, whereas output prices of oilseeds and oleaginous 
fruits were particularly stable.

In 2020, the output price of cereals in the EU rose by 3.7 %, in part reflecting 
the lower supply of cereals (compared with 2019). Higher price increases were 
recorded for oilseeds and oleaginous fruits (up 6.7 %) and for fruits (up 15.1 %). 
By contrast, producer prices for olive oil fell by 10.3 % in 2020, with an even 
larger reduction in the price of potatoes (down 21.2 %).

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition FR
DE
PL
ES
RO
Other (EU)

FR
DE
PL
ES
RO
Other (EU)

FR
RO
HU
PL
IT
Other (EU)

ES
DE
FR
DK
PL
Other (EU)

DE
PL
DK
ES
AT
Other (EU)

PL
ES
FI
SE
DE
Other (EU)

IT
FR
EL
ES
DE
Other (EU)

IT
ES
EL
PT
FR
Other (EU)

20.1

15.1

12.4

9.2

6.8

24.5

18.5

10.6

5.9
5.7

20.0

16.1

12.4

10.1
10.0

20.0
19.7
19.0

7.7

5.5

7.5

5.3

2.5

11.8

19.5

15.6
14.0

9.5
8.5

17.4

10.5
10.4
2.4
8.2

26.3

10.2

4.7

2.7
2.9

36.4

Cereals
55

34.8

Common wheat
and spelt

31.4

Grain maize
 and corn-cob-mix

28.1

Barley

37.1

35.8

32.9

Oats

51.2

Durum wheat

53.2

Rice

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

Agricultural products

2

Share of EU cereals production
(%, 2020)

Wheat accounts for close to half of the total 
quantity of cereals grown across the EU each 
year. The remainder is principally composed of 
grain maize and corn-cob mix and of barley, with 
smaller quantities of other cereals such as rye 
and oats. Based on a limited set of information 
for 19 EU Members States in 2019, an overall 
majority of the cereals consumed in the EU were 
used for animal feed, with the next highest share 
(close to 30 %) for human consumption; a small 
quantity of cereals were used as biofuels.

In 2020, the harvested area of cereals 
across the EU was 52.5 million hectares 
(or 525 thousand km²), on which an estimated 
286.5 million tonnes of crop was produced. 
France accounted for just over one fifth (20.1 %) 
of the EU’s cereals production, while Germany 
(15.1 %) and Poland (12.4 %) were the next 
largest producers.

Note: due to rounding, the shares do not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

FR 20 

49,0

DE 15 

29,4

PL 12 

29,4

Rye and maslin

Share of EU production of 
various types of cereal
(% based on tonnes, 2020)

ES 9 

19,6

A majority of the EU’s cereals are grown 
over the extensive plains of France, 
Germany, Poland and Romania, where 
largely temperate weather conditions 
support higher yields. In 2020, the 
harvested production of durum wheat was 
principally concentrated in Italy (where 
it is used in the manufacture of pasta), 
while the production of rye and maslin 
(used in the manufacture of bread, vodka 
and animal fodder) was concentrated in 
Germany and Poland. The Nordic and 
Baltic Member States were relatively 
specialised in the production of oats; these 
thrive — compared with other cereals — 
in cooler and wetter conditions. Italy and 
Spain were specialised in the production 
of rice.

RO 7 

IT 6 

HU 5 

BG, CZ, 
DK

3 

LT, AT, SK, SE 2 

1 

BE, EE, IE, 
EL, HR, 
LV, FI
Others 0 

25

9,8

9,8

19,6

9,8

9,8

9,8

3,7

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

53,5

22  DE

Share of EU potato production
(%, 2020)

In 2020, the harvested area of potatoes across the 
EU was 1.5 million hectares, on which 54.0 million 
tonnes of crop was produced; note that the 
harvested production of potatoes includes seed 
potatoes, in other words, those potatoes that are 
grown to be planted to produce the following 
year’s crop.

Germany (21.7 %), France (16.1 %), Poland (14.5 %) 
and the Netherlands (13.0 %) together accounted 
for approximately two thirds of the EU’s potato 
harvest in 2020. The harvested production of 
potatoes in Germany was 11.7 million tonnes in 
2020, which was 10.5 % higher than in 2019.

Note: due to rounding, the shares do not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

8,9

17,8

16  FR

15  PL

Production of potatoes
(2020)

Area 
(1 000 hectares)

Harvested production 
(1 000 tonnes)

12 000

10 000

8 000

6 000

4 000

2 000

0

E
D

R
F

L
P

L
N

E
B

K
D

O
R

S
E

T

I

T
A

E
S

Z
C

I

HF
C

L
E

T
P

O
N

E

I

UL
T
H

G
B

V
L

R
H

K
S

I

ES
E

Y
C

U
L

S

I

T
M

The highest apparent yields — at least 40 tonnes of potatoes 
per hectare in 2020 — were recorded in a band of EU 
Member States running from Denmark, through Germany, the 
Netherlands and Belgium into France.

Note: NO, 2019.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
apro_cpnh1)

53,5

13  NL

300

250

200

150

17,8

7  BE

100

8,9

8,9

8,9

8,9

8,9

3,7

50

0

5  DK, RO

4  ES

3 

IT

2  AT, SE

1  CZ, IE, EL, LT, 
HU, PT, FI

0  Others

26

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition ES
IT
FR
NL
PL
Other (EU)

DE
PL
NL
FR
IT
Other (EU)

NL
ES
PL
FR
DE
Other (EU)

FR
ES
HU
IT
BE
Other (EU)

ES
IT
FR
PL
BE
Other (EU)

ES
IT
DE
FR
NL
Other (EU)

IT
ES
PT
NL
EL
Other (EU)

ES
NL
PL
FR
EL
Other (EU)

24.0

21.2

8.9
8.5
8.0

17.1

14.7

12.2
11.2
10.5

29.5

Vegetables

34.2

Carrots

25.8

20.0

24.7

Onions

32.8

22.6

Fresh peas

34.3

10.0
10.0
9.5

14.9

11.1
9.9
8.7

16.8

11.8
11.1

6.1

19.9

20.8

9.3
8.7

4.5

15.7

8.5

5.5
5.5

5.9
5.7

16.7

17.9

15.7

Cauliﬂowers 
and broccoli (¹)

41.0

Lettuce

Tomatoes

37.8

26.1

33.1

21.6

Cucumbers

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

Agricultural products

2

ES 24 

24,5

IT 21 

98,0

Share of EU vegetable production
(%, 2020)

In 2020, fresh vegetables were cultivated on 
2.1 million hectares of land across the EU, 
on which 62.9 million tonnes of crop was 
produced. In 2020, the three most commonly 
grown fresh vegetables — in quantity terms 
— were tomatoes (16.5 million tonnes of 
harvested production), onions (6.6 million 
tonnes) and carrots (4.7 million tonnes).

Spain was the leading producer of fresh 
vegetables (24.0 % of the EU’s harvested 
production in 2020), followed by Italy (21.2 %), 
with none of the remaining EU Member States 
recording double-digit shares.

Note: including melons and strawberries. Due to 
rounding, the shares do not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

Share of EU production of 
various types of vegetable
(% based on tonnes, 2020)

The production of some fresh vegetables 
is concentrated in a few EU Member 
States. For example, Italy accounted for 
more than one third (37.8 %) of the EU’s 
harvested production of tomatoes in 2020, 
while Spain (26.1 %) had the next highest 
share. The Netherlands (25.8 % of the EU’s 
harvested production) and Spain (20.0 %) 
were the principal producers of onions, 
while Germany (17.1 % of the EU total) and 
Poland (14.7 %) had the highest shares of 
the harvested production of carrots.

Note: estimates made for the purpose of this 
publication.

(¹) Excluding EE.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

FR 9 

NL, PL 8 

DE 6 

16,3

BE, EL, PT, 
RO

4 

HU 2 

BG, AT, SE 1 

Others 0 

27

8,2

16,3

16,3

8,2

8,2

3,7

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    w

2 Agricultural products

45,7

30  ES

71,9

23 

IT

Share of EU fruit, berries and 
nuts production
(%, 2020)

The EU produces a wide range of fruit, 
berries and nuts. An estimated 36.8 million 
tonnes were harvested in 2020, of which 
14.3 million tonnes were pome fruit 
(apples and pears), 11.4 million tonnes were 
citrus fruit (such as oranges, satsumas and 
lemons), 6.5 million were stone fruit (such 
as peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries 
and plums), 2.7 million tonnes were sub-
tropical and tropical fruit (such as figs, 
kiwis, avocadoes and bananas), 1.3 million 
tonnes were nuts and 0.7 million tonnes 
were berries.

In 2020, Spain (30.4 %) and Italy (23.2 %) 
were the main producers of fruit, berries 
and nuts in the EU but for some specific 
fruit other EU Member States were key 
producers.

Note: excluding grapes and strawberries. Due to 
rounding, the shares do not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

Share of EU production 
of various types of fruit, 
berries and nuts
(% based on tonnes, 2020)

Poland (30.0 %) and Italy (20.8 %) 
together accounted for approximately 
half of all apples harvested in the EU, 
while Italy (26.4 %), the Netherlands 
(17.0 %), Belgium (16.7 %) and Spain 
(13.8 %) together accounted for 
almost three quarters of all pears 
harvested in the EU.

Note: excluding grapes and strawberries.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
apro_cpnh1)

19,6

12  PL

13,1

9  EL

19,6

7  FR

6,5

6,5

6,5

6,5

3,7

4  RO

3  DE, PT

2  BE, HU, NL

1  BG, AT

0  Others

28

ES
IT
PL
EL
FR
Other (EU)

PL
IT
FR
DE
RO
Other (EU)

IT
NL
BE
ES
FR
Other (EU)

ES
EL
IT
FR
PT
Other (EU)

RO
FR
IT
ES
PL
Other (EU)

IT
EL
FR
PT
ES
Other (EU)

ES
IT
EL
PT
FR
Other (EU)

ES
IT
EL
PT
FR
Other (EU)

30.4

23.2

11.8
8.6
7.4

18.7

13.7

8.6

4.5

30.0

20.8

22.3

26.4

17
16.7

13.8

5.9

20.3

33.1

30.3
29.7

Fruits

Apples

Pears

3.8

1.1
2.1

12.6
9.8
9.6

6.3

14.3

5.2
4.8
2.9

0.0

8.7

6.3

4.4

6.8

10.3
3.7

0.6
0.9

Peaches

47.5

54.8

32.3

50.9

23.0

Plums

Kiwis

Nuts

25.8

58.7

Citrus fruits

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural products

2

Main varieties of apples and pears
(% share of apple/pear orchards, based on 
area in hectares, EU, 2017)

Share of EU production of various types 
of citrus fruit
(% based on tonnes, 2020)

There are hundreds of different varieties of apples 
and pears grown in the EU, many of which have 
been developed to grow in specific conditions; 
this has allowed farmers to grow apples and pears 
commercially in almost all of the EU Member States. 
In 2017, the most common variety of dessert apple 
grown in the EU was golden delicious (principally 
harvested in Italy, France and Romania), while the 
most commonly grown variety of dessert pear was 
conference (principally harvested in Spain, Belgium 
and the Netherlands).

58.7

52.4

ES
IT
EL
Other (EU)

10.3

5.3

25.8

ES
IT
EL
Other (EU)

27.8

13.9
6.0

ES
PT
IT
Other (EU)

1.8
1.7
0.0

DESSERT
APPLES

15.2
Golden Delicious

10.5
Idared

10.3
Jonagold/Jonagored
8.5
Gala

4.2
Champion/Shampion

51.3
Other varieties

DESSERT
PEARS

31.0
Conference

ES
IT
EL
Other (EU)

8.2
3.2

25.3

14.4
Abate

12.3
Williams
10.2
Rocha
3.4
Blanquilla
28.8
Other varieties

ES
IT
EL
Other (EU)

5.1
2.4

27.8

ES
CY
FR
Other (EU)

13.8

7.5
7.9

62.8

64.7

70.9

Citrus fruits

Oranges

96.5

Satsumas

Clementines

Lemons
and acid limes

Pomelos 
and grapefruit

Note: partial data coverage, based on those EU Member 
States for which data are available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: orch_apples1)

For more and updated 
information on crop 
production, please 
refer to the Statistics 
Explained article.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_cpnh1)

Citrus fruit trees grow best with an abundance of 
sunshine and warm temperatures; some varieties 
cannot withstand temperatures below zero. Spain is 
the leading citrus fruit producer in the EU, with fruit 
orchards primarily located in the eastern and southern 
regions of Comunidad Valenciana, Región de Murcia 
and Andalucía. In 2020, Spain accounted for a majority 
of the EU’s harvested production of satsumas (96.5 % 
of the EU total), pomelos and grapefruit (70.9 %), 
lemons and acid limes (64.7 %), clementines (62.8 %) 
and oranges (52.4 %).

29

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

Livestock population

Livestock populations
(million head, EU, 2020)

146

76

62

12

Goats

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: apro_mt_
lscatl, apro_mt_lspig, 
apro_mt_lssheep and 
apro_mt_lsgoat)

Pigs

Bovine animals

Sheep

The EU has introduced a range of legislation covering the traceability of livestock, in part 
as a response to various food safety concerns. For most animal species, this traceability 
concerns a system of identification — usually through ear-tags or tattoos — coupled with 
a national register that details animals as they are reared, held or handled at each stage of 
the food chain.

As part of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission is in the process of 
drafting a proposal to revise the Feed Additives Regulation ((EC) No 1831/2003) with the goal 
of reducing the environmental impact of livestock farming. For example it will examine 
rules to lessen dependency on feed materials grown on deforested land, and aim to replace 
these with EU-grown plant proteins and alternative feed.

The EU has a sizeable livestock population: in 2020, there were 146 million head of pigs, 
76 million head of bovine animals (such as cattle or buffaloes), and an estimated 75 million 
head of sheep and goats on EU farms.

30

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Developments of livestock populations
(2001 = 100 based on head of animals, EU, 2001-2020)

Agricultural products

2

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: apro_mt_
lscatl, apro_mt_lspig, 
apro_mt_lssheep and 
apro_mt_lsgoat)

Pigs

Bovine animals

Sheep

Goats

1
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

1
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

1
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

1
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

During the last two decades, there has been a decline 
in livestock populations across the EU. Between 
2001 and 2020, the EU’s total livestock count for pigs, 
bovine animals, sheep and goats fell by an estimated 
8.9 %. The number of head declined for each livestock 
population during the period under consideration: 
the largest overall decline (in percentage terms) was 

recorded for the number of sheep, while the reduction 
in pig numbers was relatively modest.

Looking in more detail at developments between 2019 
and 2020, the population of pigs in the EU increased by 
2.2 %. There was small reduction (down 0.5 %) in the 
number of head of sheep in 2020, while there was a 
0.9 % fall in the number of bovine animals.

Developments of output price indices for animals
(2015 = 100, EU, 2015-2020)

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
apri_pi15_outa)

130

120

110

100

90

80

70

60

Pigs

Cattle

Sheep and goats

Poultry

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

During the period 2015-2020, EU output price 
developments were relatively stable for most animals, 
with the price of pigs being the main exception. Having 
risen at a rapid pace between 2016 and 2017, output 
prices for pigs then fell back in 2018 before rebounding 
in 2019 and falling again at a somewhat slower pace 
in 2020. The output price of cattle was relatively 
unchanged, although price developments followed a 

downward path in both 2019 and 2020. Throughout 
the period from 2016-2019, output prices for sheep and 
goats remained below their average level for 2015, but 
then grew at a rapid pace in 2020 (up 7.8 %). Having 
fallen at a relatively rapid pace in 2016, output prices for 
poultry remained relatively stable during the remainder 
of the period under consideration. 

31

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

Share of EU livestock populations
(% based on head of animals, 2020)

22.4

17.8

9.4

9.2

8

Pigs

ES

DE

FR

DK

PL

24.8
24,8

16.8
16,8

13.3
13,3

11.7
11,7

11.3
11,3

Sheep

ES

RO

EL

FR

IT

33.2

Other
(EU)

22.0
22

Other
(EU)

36.4

23.3

14.8

8.7

8.5

8.4

Bovine animals

FR

DE

ES

IE

IT

Other
(EU)

28.8

21.4

16.4

13.2

11.6

8.6

Goats

EL

ES

RO

FR

IT

Other
(EU)

A majority of the EU’s livestock is held in just a few of the EU Member States. 
Between one fifth and one quarter (23.3 %) of the EU’s bovine population 
was found in France and similar shares of the EU’s pig (22.4 %) and sheep 
(24.8 %) populations were in Spain. Greece (28.8 %) and Spain (21.4 %) together 
accounted for more than half of all the EU’s goats.

Some of the EU Member States are relatively specialised in terms of livestock 
farming. For example, Ireland accounted for 8.5 % of the EU’s bovine animals in 
2020 (almost the same level as recorded in Spain), while Denmark accounted 
for 9.2 % of the EU’s pig population (almost the same level as in France). 
After Spain, the second and third largest sheep populations in the EU were in 
Romania and Greece, with 16.8 % and 13.3 % shares respectively.

Note: estimates made for the purpose 
of this publication. Due to rounding, 
some of the totals do not sum to 
100.0 %.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: apro_mt_lscatl, 
apro_mt_lspig, apro_mt_lssheep and 
apro_mt_lsgoat)

32

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural products

2

Livestock densities
(2016)

Livestock units per hectare of utilised agricultural area
4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

L
N

T
M

E
B

K
D

Y
C

U
L

E

I

E
D

I

TS
A

R
F

T

I

L
P

S
E

T
P

E
S

U
H

Z
C

I

RF
H

L
E

O
R

K
S

T
L

E
E

V
L

G
B

Livestock units per livestock farm
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

L
N

T
M

E
B

K
D

Y
C

U
L

E

I

E
D

I

TS
A

R
F

T

I

L
P

S
E

T
P

E
S

U
H

Z
C

I

RF
H

L
E

O
R

K
S

T
L

E
E

V
L

G
B

The livestock density index is calculated as the stock of animals (measured in 
livestock units) per hectare of utilised agricultural area. Based on this measure, the 
highest livestock densities in 2016 among EU Member States were recorded in the 
Netherlands (3.8 livestock units per hectare of utilised agricultural area), Malta (2.9) 
and Belgium (2.8). By contrast, livestock farming was relatively extensive in the Baltic 
Member States and Bulgaria, with fewer than 0.30 livestock units per hectare of 
utilised agricultural area.

An alternative measure of livestock density can be defined as the number of livestock 
units per livestock farm. Based on this indicator, the average sizes of livestock farms 
in Denmark (200 livestock units per holding), the Netherlands (185) and Belgium 
(148) were particularly high. At the other end of the range, there were fewer than 
10 livestock units per livestock farm in Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, Greece, Croatia, 
Bulgaria and Romania (where semi-subsistence livestock farming in relatively small 
farms tends to predominate).

Note: different scales are used for 
the two indicators in the chart.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
codes: ef_lsk_main and 
ef_lus_main)

For more and updated 
information on livestock 
and meat, please refer to 
the Statistics Explained 
article.

33

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

Meat production

Meat production
(thousand tonnes, EU, 2020)

23 031 Pigmeat
13 600 Poultrymeat
6 822 Bovine meat 
425 Sheepmeat
42 Goatmeat

Note: estimates made for the 
purpose of this publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
code: apro_mt_pann)

Better animal welfare improves animal health and food 
quality. Within the context of the EU’s Farm to Fork 
Strategy, the European Commission plans to revise 
legislation concerning the slaughter of animals so 
that it is aligned with scientific evidence, broadening 
its scope, making it easier to enforce, and ultimately 
ensuring a higher level of animal protection/welfare.

In 2020, there were 23.0 million tonnes of pigmeat 
produced within the EU. This was considerably more 
than the estimated level of poultrymeat production 
(13.6 million tonnes), which in turn was twice as high 
as the level of bovine meat production (6.8 million 
tonnes). The EU produced much smaller quantities of 
sheepmeat and goatmeat.

Developments of the quantity of meat production
(2004 = 100 based on tonnes, EU, 2004-2020)

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Pigmeat

Poultrymeat

Bovine meat

Sheepmeat

Goatmeat

4
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

4
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

4
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

4
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

4
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

0
2
0
2

Among other influences, consumer attitudes to eating meat have been affected by (scientific) 
advice regarding healthy diets. During the period from 2004-2020, there was a rapid and 
relatively uniform increase in the production of poultrymeat, with EU production rising 
overall by 45.6 %. The level of pigmeat production rose by 9.2 %, although most of this 
growth occurred after 2013; note the growth in pigmeat production was achieved despite 
a falling number of pigs. By contrast, the production of bovine meat fell between 2004 and 
2013, rebounded somewhat in 2015 and 2016 but then remained relatively unchanged, with 
production approximately 10 % lower in 2020 than it had been in 2004. Sheepmeat production 
and goatmeat production fell by approximately 40 % during the periods 2004-2009 and 
2004-2014 respectively, after which their production levels were relatively stable.

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
apro_mt_pann)

34

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural products

2

Share of quantity of EU meat 
production
(%, 2020)

In 2020, slightly more than one fifth (22.2 %, 
or 5.1 million tonnes) of the EU’s pigmeat 
production came from Germany, with a similar 
contribution made by Spain (21.7 %); each of 
the remaining EU Member States had single-
digit shares of the EU total.

The highest level of poultrymeat production 
was in Poland (19.8 % of the EU total, or 
2.7 million tonnes), while Spain (12.6 %), France 
(12.3 %), Germany (11.9 %) and Italy (10.2 %) 
each recorded double-digit shares of EU 
production.

More than one fifth of all the EU’s bovine 
meat production was from France (21.0 %, or 
1.4 million tonnes), with relatively large shares 
for Germany (16.0 %), Italy (10.7 %), Spain 
(9.9 %) and Ireland (9.3 %).

Spain had the highest share of the EU’s 
sheepmeat production (27.1 %, or 115 
thousand tonnes), while more than three fifths 
of the remaining production in the EU came 
from France (18.9 %), Ireland (15.6 %) and 
Greece (11.6 %).

DE
ES
FR
PL
NL
Other (EU)

PL
ES
FR
DE
IT
Other (EU)

FR
DE
IT
ES
IE
Other (EU)

ES
FR
IE
EL
IT
Other (EU)

EL
ES
FR
NL
CY
Other (EU)

22.2
21.7

9.6
8.6
7.2

19.8

12.6
12.3
11.9

10.2

21.0

16.0

10.7
9.9
9.3

30.7

Pigmeat

33.2

Poultrymeat

33.0

Bovine meat

27.1

18.9

15.6

11.6

6.7

20.2

Sheepmeat 

41.9

24.2

14.6

6.2
5.0

8.1

Goatmeat

Note: estimates made for the purpose of this 
publication. Due to rounding, some of the totals 
do not sum to 100.0 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_mt_pann)

35

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    2 Agricultural products

Milk production

Production and use of milk
(million tonnes, EU, 2020)

38,9

22 DE

Raw milk
imported

0.7

10.6

Milk used 
on farms (1)

54,4

17 FR

160.1

Milk produced
on farms

of which

154.4

Cows' milk

3.0
Ewes' milk

2.5
Goats' milk

 0.3
Buffaloes' 
milk

149.9

Milk used by dairies

149.4

Milk delivered 
to dairies

of which

145.2
Cows' milk

0.2

Raw milk
exported

111.6

Products obtained:

Fresh products:

24.0
Drinking milk
14.7
Other fresh products

Manufactured
products:

10.3
Cheese
2.3
Butter (2)
3.1
Milk powder
55.5
Whey (3)
1.8
Other manufactured
products

7,8

23,3

7,8

7,8

7,8

7,8

7,8

10 NL

9 IT, PL

6 IE

5 ES

4 DK

3 BE

7,8

3,7

2 CZ, AT, FI, 

SE

1 EE, LV, LT, HU, 
PT, RO, SK

0 Others

36

In 2020, the production of raw milk on EU farms was 160.1 million tonnes; this 
represented an increase of 2.0 million tonnes (or 1.2 %) compared with the previous 
year. The vast majority of raw milk production in the EU is delivered to dairies; only 
10.6 million tonnes were used on farms, being consumed by the farmer’s family, 
sold directly to consumers, used as feed or processed directly. Of the 149.4 million 
tonnes of milk delivered to dairies, 145.2 million tonnes were cows’ milk, the rest 
being milk from other livestock: ewes (sheep), goats and buffaloes.

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.
(1)  In whole milk equivalent.
(2)  Includes other yellow fat 
dairy products; expressed 
in butter equivalent.
(3)  In liquid whey equivalent.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
codes: apro_mk_pobta and 
apro_mk_farm)

Share of cows’ milk collected by EU dairies
(%, 2020)

Traditionally, hygiene rules have required the collection of milk to be 
frequent, with transport over a short distance between farms and dairies. 
The development of cooling tanks on farms and of bigger milk tankers have 
made these characteristics less critical. In 2020, 22.4 % of the EU’s cows’ milk 
was collected for processing by German dairies. Germany, France (17.0 %), the 
Netherlands (9.6 %), Poland (8.6 %) and Italy (8.6 %) together accounted for 
close to two thirds (66.2 %) of the cows’ milk collected by EU dairies.

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication. Due to 
rounding, the shares do 
not sum to 100 %. 

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
apro_mk_pobta)

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Share of EU dairy products
(%, 2020)

Some of the principal dairy products that are produced 
in the EU include drinking milk, whey (a by-product in 
the manufacture of cheese), butter and cheese. Germany 
had the highest level of production for all four of these 
dairy products in 2020: 14.0 million tonnes of whey, 
4.6 million tonnes of drinking milk, 2.4 million tonnes of 
cheese and 434 thousand tonnes of butter.

Unsurprisingly, the highest levels of production for dairy 
products were generally recorded in the most populous 
EU Member States, although there were some exceptions. 
For example, the Netherlands had the second highest level 
of production for whey (9.4 million tonnes) and the fourth 
highest for cheese (1.0 million tonnes), while 265 thousand 
tonnes of butter were produced in Ireland (the third 
highest value among EU Member States).

MILK

34.4

Drinking
milk

29.2

Whey

DE
ES
FR
IT
PL
Other (EU)

DE
NL
PL
IT
IE
Other (EU)

DE
FR
IE
PL
NL
Other (EU)

DE
FR
IT
NL
PL
Other (EU)

19.3

14.6

13.2

10.2
8.3

25.1

16.9

13.4

8.3
7.1

18.9

15.5

11.5
10

5.8

22.9

18.1

13.1

9.7
8.7

27.6

Cheese

Note: estimates made for the purpose of this publication. Due to 
rounding, some of the totals do not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_mk_pobta)

Agricultural products

2

Milk collection from animals 
other than cows
(% of total milk delivered to dairies, 
2020)

There are a few EU Member States 
where livestock other than cows make 
an important contribution to overall 
milk production; this is the case in many 
rural or arid regions, particularly in the 
Mediterranean area. In 2020, there were 
684 thousand tonnes of ewes’ milk delivered 
to dairies in Greece, with relatively high 
levels also recorded in Spain (589 thousand 
tonnes), Italy (453 thousand tonnes) and 
France (306 thousand tonnes). The principal 
producers of goats’ milk in the EU were 
France (523 thousand tonnes delivered to 
dairies), Spain (512 thousand tonnes), the 
Netherlands (407 thousand tonnes) and 
Greece (156 thousand tonnes). In Italy, some 
229 thousand tonnes of milk delivered to 
dairies came from buffaloes; this was more 
than 95 % of the EU total.

Cows’ milk accounts for the vast majority 
of the milk delivered to dairies across most 
of the EU Member States. Nevertheless, a 
majority (56.3 %) of the milk delivered to 
dairies in Greece in 2020 came from ewes and 
goats, as did over one fifth (20.8 %) in Cyprus 
and more than one tenth (12.9 %) in Spain.

Note: estimates made for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: apro_mk_pobta)

EL 56

121,9

CY 21

27,9

38.4

Butter

ES 13

24,4

For more information on 
milk and milk products, 
please refer to the 
Statistics Explained article.

BG 6
IT 5

EU, FR, NL, RO 3
BE, HR, PT 2
AT, SK, NO 1
Others 0

37

3,7

7,0

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    3

Agricultural output 
value and economic 
performance

3 Agricultural output value and economic performance

Gross output and 
intermediate consumption

Distribution of gross output for 
the agricultural industry
(EUR billion, values at basic prices, EU, 
2020)

Among other objectives, the EU’s Farm 
to Fork Strategy aims to generate 
fairer economic returns and foster 
competitiveness of the EU supply sector. 
The economic performance of the 
agricultural sector matters directly for 
farms, farmers and farm workers as well as 
indirectly for upstream and downstream 
activities, rural communities and final 
consumers of products derived from 
agricultural output.

The term agricultural industry is used to 
describe all agricultural holdings (farms) 
involved in agricultural production, 
groups of producers (co-operatives) that 
make wine and olive oil, and specialised 
agricultural contractors. The value of 
the gross output produced by the EU’s 
agricultural industry was EUR 414.1 billion 
in 2020. This includes: crop output 
(EUR 219.5 billion; 53.0 % of the total), 
animal output (EUR 159.0 billion; 38.4 %), 
agricultural services (EUR 20.3 billion; 4.9 %) 
and some non-agricultural goods and 
services (EUR 15.4 billion; 3.7 %).

Note: gross output is the production value.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: aact_eaa01)

40

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 219.5Cropoutput159.0AnimaloutputVegetables and horticultural products57.2Milk54.3Cereals47.3Pigs38.835.7Agriculturalservices and secondary activitiesFruits30.4Cattle28.0Forage plants24.6Wine22.7Agricultural services20.3Poultry19.3Industrial crops19.0Secondary activities15.4Potatoes (including seeds)12.5Eggs9.1Sheep and goats3.9Other animals3.2Olive oil3.5Other crop products2.2Other animal products2.3Agricultural output value and economic performance

3

Developments of gross output for the agricultural industry
(% share of total agricultural output, values at basic prices, EU, 2005-2020)

Vegetables and 
Vegetables and 
horticultural products
horticultural products

Cereals
Cereals

Fruits
Fruits

Forage plants
Forage plants
Wine
Wine
Industrial crops
Industrial crops

Other crop products

Olive oil

Wine

Fruits

Potatoes (including seeds)

Potatoes (including seeds)
Potatoes (including seeds)

Vegetables and horticultural products

2005

2010

2015

2020

Olive oil
Olive oil
Other crop products
Other crop products

Milk
Milk

Pigs
Pigs

Cattle
Cattle

Poultry
Poultry

Eggs
Eggs

Forage plants

Industrial crops

Cereals

Other animal products

Eggs

Milk

Other animals

Poultry

Sheep and goats

Pigs

2005

2010

2015

2020

Cattle

Sheep and goats
Sheep and goats
Other animals
Other animals
Other animal products
Other animal products

Secondary activities

Agricultural services

Agricultural services
Agricultural services

Secondary activities
Secondary activities

15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

6
5
4
3
2
1
0

2005

2010

2015

2020

At a more detailed level, the largest categories of the EU’s agricultural output in 2020 
were vegetables and horticultural products (EUR 57.2 billion; 13.8 % of the total), milk 
(EUR 54.3 billion; 13.1 %), cereals (EUR 47.3 billion; 11.4 %) and pigs (EUR 38.8 billion; 9.4 %).

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: aact_eaa01)

41

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    3 Agricultural output value and economic performance

Developments of gross output indices
(2005 = 100, basic prices, EU, 2005-2020)

Agricultural industry — total

Crop output

Animal output

140

130

120

110

100

90

140

130

120

110

100

90

130

120

110

100

90

Value index

Price index

Volume index

Value index

Price index

Volume index

Value index

Price index
Volume index

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note: indices originally compiled with 2010 = 100; rescaled to 
2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: aact_eaa05)

In current price terms, the value of the agricultural 
industry’s output fell back slightly in 2020 (down 1.1 %) 
from a relative peak in 2019. This development reflected 
a 1.0 % fall in the output price of agricultural goods and 
services as a whole and a reduction of 0.2 % in output in 
the volume (11) of output.

Inputs of products that are used up (consumed) in a 
production process, such as seeds, fertilisers, animal 
feed, fuel and veterinary services, are referred to as 
intermediate consumption. The cost of these inputs for 
the agricultural industry totalled EUR 235.8 billion for 
the EU as a whole in 2020.

The fall in the output value of the EU’s agricultural 
industry in 2020 reflected similar rates of decline in 
the values of animal output (down 1.1 %) and crop 
output (down 1.0 %). The decline in the value of crop 
output reflected a reduced volume (down 0.7 %) and 
barely changed prices (down 0.3 %), whereas for animal 
output, prices fell 2.3 % but the volume of output rose 
(up 1.3 %).

The difference between the output value and the cost 
of intermediate consumption is the value added at 
basic prices, in other words, the value that has been 
added through production (in this case agricultural) 
processes. In 2020, value added in the EU’s agricultural 
industry was EUR 178.4 billion; in current price terms; 
this was 1.3 % lower than in 2019.

(1) The change in the volume of output reflects the change in the value of output after removing any price changes (inflation or deflation). A change in 

volume terms is broadly synonymous with a change in constant prices.

42

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural output value and economic performance

3

Developments of output and consumption for the agricultural 
industry
(2005 = 100, values at current basic prices, 2020)

260
260

240

220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60
60

T
L

V
L

U
H

L
P

O
R

Z
C

E

I

E
D

E
S

O
N

T
A

K
D

U
L

I

US
E

L
N

E
B

E
E

S
E

G
B

HI
T
C

K
S

T
P

R
F

Y
C

R
H

I

TF
M

L
E

Cost of intermediate 
consumption

Gross output value

Gross value added

Between 2005 and 2020, gross value added in the EU’s agricultural industry increased 
overall by 22.3 % in current price terms, reflecting a 32.4 % increase in the value 
of output offset to some extent by a 41.2 % increase in the costs of intermediate 
consumption.

Note: indices originally 
compiled with 
2010 = 100; rescaled 
to 2005 = 100. Ranked 
on the change in value 
added.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: aact_eaa05)

Three of the EU Member States — Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary — recorded value 
added in their agricultural industries at least doubling in current price terms between 
2005 and 2020. In Poland, Romania, Czechia, Ireland, Germany and Sweden, value 
added increased by at least 50 %. In Finland, Malta and Greece, value added in 2020 
was lower than in 2005. Croatia, Greece and Malta were the only EU Member States 
where the output of the agricultural industry was lower in 2020 than in 2005, while 
Croatia was the only one where the cost of intermediate consumption fell.

43

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    3 Agricultural output value and economic performance

Value added

Gross value added from agriculture
(% relative to GDP, 2005 and 2020)

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

EU
1.3 % 
in both 2005
and 2020

O
R

L
E

G
B

S
E

UL
T
H

R
H

V
L

T

I

L
P

Y
C

T
P

L
N

R
F

U
E

I

ES
E

K
D

Z
C

E

I

T
A

K
S

E
D

E
B

H
C

I

TF
M

O
N

E
S

U
L

 2005
  2020

In 2020, value added from the EU’s agricultural industry was equivalent to 1.3 % of 
gross domestic product (GDP). This was the same ratio as recorded in 2005.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: aact_eaa01 
and nama_10_gdp)

The ratio of the value added of the agricultural industry to GDP in 2020 was notably higher 
in Romania (3.8 %) and Greece (3.5 %) than in any of the other EU Member States: the next 
highest ratio was 2.6 % in Bulgaria. In 12 Member States, this ratio was below 1.0 %; the 
lowest values were 0.3 % in Sweden and 0.2 % in Luxembourg.

Between 2005 and 2020, this ratio increased in 10 of the EU Member States. The largest 
increases, in the range of 0.3-0.5 percentage points, were recorded for Greece, Lithuania, 
Latvia, Spain and Hungary. The largest decreases by far were in Bulgaria and Romania, both 
down 3.8 points.

44

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural output value and economic performance

3

Gross value added for the agricultural industry
(% share of EU total, values at current prices, 2005 and 2020)

20.5 

21.1 

20.0

18.3 

2005
EUR 126.6 billion
in the EU

16.9 

4.1 
4.7 
6.5 

10.2 

16.1 

2020
EUR 173.3 billion
in the EU

17.3 

4.8 
5.6 

6.0 

11.9 

16.0 

IT
FR
ES
DE
NL
PL
RO
Other (EU)

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
aact_eaa01)

In 2020, Italy’s agricultural industry had the highest value 
added among the EU Member States, contributing 18.3 % 
of the EU’s total. France had a share of 17.3 %, followed by 
Spain with 16.0 % and Germany with an 11.9 % share.

Comparing 2005 with 2020, Italy’s and Greece’s shares of the 
EU total decreased by most (down 2.7 and 1.5 percentage 
points respectively). The largest increases were recorded 
for Germany (up 1.7 points) and Poland (up 1.6 points). The 
increase in the Polish share moved it from being the eighth 
largest agricultural economy (in value added terms) among 
the Member States in 2005 to the sixth largest by 2020, 
passing Greece and Romania.

2020

2005

€

€

45

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    3 Agricultural output value and economic performance

Labour productivity

Agricultural labour input and income
(2005 = 100, EU, 2005-2020)

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

2005

2010

2015

2020

The economic performance of the agricultural industry can also be measured in terms of 
net value added at factor cost, so-called factor income. It is the remuneration for all the 
factors of production, such as labour and capital.

Factor income can be presented as a ratio to employment, and can then be considered 
as a partial labour productivity measure. To do so, care has to be taken of part-time, 
seasonal and unpaid (often family) labour input. The amount of work actually carried out 
in agriculture is described using a unit called the annual work unit: this unit is equivalent 
to the amount of work done by a person working full-time for a whole year. The 
factor income per annual work unit shows the net value added by the equivalent of each 
full-time worker. This indicator is deflated and expressed as an index.

Agricultural labour input fell 31.9 % between 2005 and 2020, equivalent to an annual 
average decline of 2.5 %. This decline was quite regular, falling every year except for 2016, 
normally by less than 4.0 %; the rate of decline in 2020 was 2.9 %.

Real factor income per annual work unit for the EU was 58.2 % higher in 2020 than it was in 
2005, equivalent to an annual average increase of 3.1 %. The largest annual decreases were 
observed in 2008 and 2009, while there were smaller decreases in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018 
and 2020.

46

Deﬂated factor
income per annual 
work unit

Labour input in 
annual work units

Note: indices originally 
compiled with 
2010 = 100; rescaled to 
2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: aact_eaa06 
and aact_ali02)

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agricultural output value and economic performance

3

Real developments in agricultural factor income per annual work unit
(%)

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

-5

-10

-15

T
L

V
L

O
N

E

I

Z
C

K
S

L
E

R
H

S
E

E
E

I

US
H

H
C

Y
C

L
P

G
B

E
B

T
A

I

TF
P

U
E

E
S

K
D

U
L

R
F

L
N

OI
T
R

E
D

T
M

Average annual 
change
2005-2020

Annual change,
2019-2020

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: aact_eaa06)

A majority of EU Member States recorded increases in the index 
of agricultural factor income in 2020 compared with 2019. The 
largest increases were in Lithuania (up 38.2 %), Latvia (15.3 %) and 
Ireland (11.9 %). The moderate real fall in factor income per annual 
work unit for the EU as a whole (down 0.8 %) reflected falls in 
several Member States with large agricultural industries: there was 
a reduction of 11.8 % in Germany, 8.1 % in Romania, 6.8 % in Italy, 
6.1 % in the Netherlands and 5.0 % in France.

For more 
information on the 
performance of the 
agricultural sector, 
please refer to the 
Statistics Explained 
article.

Looking at a longer time perspective — comparing 2020 with 
2005 — Malta and Luxembourg reported a real fall in agricultural 
factor income per annual work unit (down on average by 2.8 % and 
1.5 % per year); elsewhere the index increased. Among the larger 
economies, increases were often below the EU average of 3.1 % 
per year, as was the case for example in Italy (up 1.1 %), France 
(2.1 %), Spain (2.1 %) and Germany (2.6 %). The main exception was 
Poland whose index increased on average by 6.1 % per year. This 
was the fourth highest increase of all, smaller only than the average 
increases recorded for Slovakia, Bulgaria and Latvia.

47

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    4 Fishing and 
aquaculture4

4 Fishing and aquaculture

Key figures for the EU

Total production of fishery products
(million tonnes, EU, 2000-2019)

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Aquaculture

Catches

0
0
0
2

1
0
0
2

2
0
0
2

3
0
0
2

4
0
0
2

5
0
0
2

6
0
0
2

7
0
0
2

8
0
0
2

9
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

1
1
0
2

2
1
0
2

3
1
0
2

4
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

Fish are a renewable and mobile natural resource. Within the EU, fish stocks are 
managed collectively under the Common Fisheries Policy. Within the broader 
context of the Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission aims to bring 
fish stocks to sustainable levels by (among other actions) reducing wasteful 
discarding, enhancing traceability and strengthening fisheries management.

Note: estimates made for the purpose 
of this publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
codes: fish_ca_main, fish_aq_q 
and fish_aq2a) and the European 
Market Observatory for Fisheries and 
Aquaculture (EUMOFA)

The EU’s total production of fishery products was estimated to be 5.20 million 
tonnes of live weight equivalent in 2019, which was 8.7 % lower than its level in 
2018 and 25.7 % lower than in 2000. Developments in the production of fishery 
products over the last two decades largely reflected a managed reduction 
in the quantity of fish caught at sea (four fifths of total production), while 
output from aquaculture — mainly fish farming — remained relatively stable.

50

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Fishing and aquaculture

4

Fleet capacity

Size of the fishing fleet
(EU, 2019)

Gross
tonnage 
 1.33  
(million tonnes)

75 237 
vessels

5.34 
million Kilowatt  
capacity

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
fish_fleet_alt)

The EU’s fishing fleet numbered 75 237 active vessels in 
2019, with a gross tonnage of 1.33 million tonnes and 
a total engine power of 5.34 million kilowatts. The vast 
majority of boats within the EU’s fishing fleet are no 
more than 10 metres long.

The size of the EU fleet has declined steadily over the 
last three decades, in terms of both tonnage (which 
provides a measure of the capacity for holding fish) 

and engine power (which provides a measure of the 
power available for fishing gear). The EU fishing fleet 
had approximately 10 thousand fewer vessels in 2019 
than in 2009, down 12.9 %, with a combined capacity 
that was 19.9 % smaller and a total engine power 
that was 14.5 % smaller; note that this comparison 
excludes data for Croatia (for which 2009 data are not 
available).

Share of Member States in the EU’s 
fishing fleet
(% based on gross tonnage, 2019)

When measured by gross tonnage, Spain had, by far, 
the largest fleet among EU Member States (24.9 % of 
the EU total in 2019), followed by France (12.9 %) and 
Italy (11.0 %). However, when measured by engine 
power, the largest fleet was in France (17.9 % of the 
EU total), while the highest number of vessels was in 
Greece (19.6 % of the EU total).

Other (EU) 
25.7

ES
24.9

DK

5.1

EL

5.2

FR
12.9

PT
6.5

NL
8.7

IT
11.0

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: fish_fleet_alt)

51

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     
4 Fishing and aquaculture

Production

Marine fishing areas for catch 
by EU fleet
(%, EU, 2019)

1.3
Atlantic, Northwest

7.9
Atlantic, Eastern Central

3.3
Atlantic, Southwest

69.6
Atlantic, Northeast

0.7
Atlantic, Southeast

10.7
Mediterranean 
and Black Sea

6.5
Indian Ocean, 
Western

Although the EU’s fishing fleet operates worldwide, official statistics on EU fishing activities 
only cover seven major marine fishing areas, as shown in the map. These areas are defined 
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Based on scientific advice, 
annual quotas are set for most commercial fish species in each fishing area, detailing the 
total allowable catch.

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
fish_ca_main)

Developments of catch
(million tonnes, EU, 2005-2019)

5

4

3

2

1

0

5
0
0
2

6
0
0
2

7
0
0
2

8
0
0
2

9
0
0
2

0
1
0
2

1
1
0
2

2
1
0
2

3
1
0
2

4
1
0
2

5
1
0
2

6
1
0
2

7
1
0
2

8
1
0
2

9
1
0
2

Atlantic, Southeast

Atlantic, Northwest

Atlantic, Southwest

Indian Ocean, Western

Atlantic, Eastern Central

Mediterranean 
and Black Sea

Atlantic, Northeast

ES

20.6

DK

15.7

FR

12.9

NL

7.8

DE

5.1

IE

PT

Other (EU) 

4.8 4.5 28.6

The vast majority of the EU’s catch is taken in the Atlantic, Northeast: in 2019, this area 
accounted for 69.6 % of the EU’s total catch across the seven major fishing areas. Just over 
one tenth (10.7 %) of the EU’s total catch was taken in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, 
while the next highest shares were recorded for the Atlantic, Eastern Central area (7.9 %) 
and Indian Ocean, Western area (6.5 %).

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
fish_ca_main)

52

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Fishing and aquaculture

4

Atlantic, Northeast

Herring

21

Sprat

15

Blue whiting

Mackerel

10

8

Mediterranean and Black Sea

24

17

Atlantic, Eastern Central

20

17

Sardine

Anchovy

Skipjack
tuna

Mackerel

Sardine

14

Indian Ocean, Western

Skipjack
tuna
Yellowﬁn
tuna
Bigeye
tuna

10

27

58

Note: estimates made for the purpose 
of this publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
fish_ca_main)

Share of main species in EU catch
(% of total live weight caught in each 
marine fishing area, 2019)

The EU’s fishing fleet catches a wide variety 
of fish species. This reflects, among other 
factors, the characteristics of fishing grounds, 
different types of fishing techniques and 
gear, quotas, and patterns of consumer 
demand.

In 2019, the main species that were caught 
in the Atlantic, Northeast area included 
herring (21 % of the live weight caught in 
this area), sprat (15 %), blue whiting (10 %) 
and mackerel (8 %). The two main species 
caught in the Mediterranean and Black 
Sea were sardine (24 %, mainly European 
pilchards) and anchovy (17 %). In the Atlantic, 
Eastern Central area, the main species that 
were caught included skipjack tuna (20 %), 
mackerel (17 %) and sardine (14 %). The fish 
caught by the EU’s fleet in the Indian Ocean, 
Western area were almost exclusively tuna, 
in particular skipjack (58 %), yellowfin (27 %) 
and bigeye (10 %).

Share of Member States in EU catch
(%, 2019)

ES
20.6

DK
15.7

FR
12.9

NL
7.8

DE
5.1

IE
PT
4.8 4.5 28.6

Other (EU) 

Spain, with 837 thousand tonnes of live weight, had the largest fish catch among 
EU Member States in 2019 (20.6 % of the total), followed by Denmark (15.7 %) 
and France (12.9 %). Iceland and Norway had a combined catch of 3.13 million 
tonnes of fish in 2019; this was equivalent to more than three quarters of the 
total quantity of fish caught by the EU fleet.

Note: estimates made for the 
purpose of this publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
fish_ca_main)

53

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    4 Fishing and aquaculture

ES

837

DK

638

FR

525

NL

319

DE

207

195

IE

PT

184

PL

181

181

IT

178

SE

139

FI

LV

112

101

LT

EE

84

82

64
21
21

EL

HR

BE

Other
 (EU)

54

Catches by Member States’ 
fleets in marine fishing areas
(thousand tonnes, 2019)

The geographic proximity of a port to 
specific fishing grounds often determines 
the focus of fishing activities. However, 
Spain — and to a lesser extent France 
and Portugal — were exceptions, insofar 
as their fleets took fish from a wider range 
of fishing areas in the Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans.

In 2019, close to one quarter (22.5 %) 
of the EU’s total catch in the Atlantic, 
Northeast was made by the Danish fleet. 
A further third of the total catch in the 
EU’s principal fishing area was made 
by the French (13.7 %), Dutch (10.6 %) 
and Spanish (9.8 %) fleets. Within the 
Mediterranean and Black Sea, about two 
fifths of the EU catch was taken by the 
Italian fleet (40.1 %), with the fleets of 
Greece (18.9 %), Spain (17.4 %) and Croatia 
(14.7 %) together accounting for just over 
half of the total catch in this area.

Atlantic, Northeast

Mediterranean 
and Black Sea

Atlantic, 
Eastern Central

Indian Ocean, Western

Atlantic, Southwest

Atlantic, Northwest

Atlantic, Southeast

Note: including estimates made for the purpose of this 
publication. CZ, LU, HU, AT and SK: landlocked.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: fish_ca_main)

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Developments of aquaculture production
(thousand tonnes, EU, 2008-2019)

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Fishing and aquaculture

4

Molluscs

Marine ﬁsh
Diadromous ﬁsh

Freshwater ﬁsh

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Aquaculture is the production of fish and other aquatic organisms like molluscs and 
crustaceans under controlled conditions, both inland and in marine areas.

The EU’s aquaculture production for all fishery products was estimated at 1.11 million 
tonnes of live weight equivalent in 2019. Output generally fluctuated at just over one 
million tonnes during the period from 2008 to 2019. Production stood at a low of 
972 thousand tonnes in 2013, but then rose during four consecutive years to a peak of 
1.14 million tonnes in 2017. There was a modest decline (down 0.8 %) in 2018, which 
accelerated in 2019 (down 1.6 %, equivalent to a fall of 19 thousand tonnes).

Molluscs (for example mussels, oysters or clams) accounted for just over half (51.8 %) of 
the EU’s total aquaculture production in 2019, while marine fish accounted for around 
one fifth (20.1 %) of the EU total. Diadromous fish — species that migrate between 
seawater and freshwater — had the next highest share of EU aquaculture production 
(19.2 %), followed by freshwater fish (8.8 %); the farming of crustaceans was negligible 
in EU waters.

Note: estimates made for the 
purpose of this publication. 
Crustaceans: not significant.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: fish_aq2a) 
and the European Market 
Observatory for Fisheries and 
Aquaculture (EUMOFA)

55

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    4 Fishing and aquaculture

Main species of aquaculture production
(%, EU, 2019)

Mussels

Rainbow trout

Oysters

Seabream, gilthead

Seabass, European

Carp

Tuna, blueﬁn

Clams

Salmon

Turbot

Main species
in euros

Main species 
in tonnes

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

0

5

10

15

20

The EU produced 431 thousand tonnes of farmed mussels in 2019. This equated to almost 
two fifths (38.6 %) of the EU’s total aquaculture output, considerably higher than the shares 
recorded for rainbow trout (15.3 %) and oysters (8.5 %).

The production of rainbow trout was valued at EUR 577 million in 2019, which was more than 
any other species farmed and equivalent to 16.4 % of the EU’s aquaculture production value. 
Different species fetch different prices and this explains why, for example, the relative share of 
mussels in value terms was considerably lower, at 10.8 % of the EU total, than in quantity terms. 
By contrast, the relatively high price of bluefin tuna resulted in a share in value terms (8.8 % of 
the EU total) that was more than four times as high as in quantity terms (2.0 % of the EU total).

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication. Different 
scales are used for the 
two units presented in 
the chart.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: fish_aq2a)

3.6

3.6

4.1

Share of Member States in EU 
aquaculture production
(% based on tonnes, 2019)

Aquaculture plays an important role 
in most EU Member States that border 
the Mediterranean and Black Sea but is 
highly specialised in individual Member 
States. In 2019, Spain (27.5 %), France 
(17.4 %), Greece (11.6 %) and Italy (11.3 %) 
together accounted, in quantity terms, 
for more than two thirds of the EU’s 
aquaculture output. The quantity of 
aquaculture production in Norway 
(1.45 million tonnes in 2019) exceeded 
that for the whole of the EU (1.11 million 
tonnes) and was almost exclusively 
composed of farmed salmon.

20.9

11.3

ES
FR
EL
IT
NL
DK
PL
Other (EU) 

56

27.5

17.4

11.6

Note: estimates made 
for the purpose of this 
publication.
Source: Eurostat (online data 
code: fish_aq2a)

For more information 
on fishery statistics, 
please refer to the 
Statistics Explained 
article.

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 5

Processing of food 
and beverages

5 Processing of food and beverages

Key figures for the EU

Size of F&B processing
(EU, 2018)

 289 000
enterprises

14.3 %

EUR 1 093 
billion 
turnover

14.2 %

EUR 222 billion  
value added

4 521 000
persons employed

11.4 %

15.1 %

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
sbs_na_ind_r2)

The food system is much wider than primary 
agricultural production; it also covers food and drink 
preparation and sales. Within the context of the EU’s 
Farm to Fork Strategy, food and beverage (F&B) 
processors are encouraged to increase the availability 
and affordability of healthy, sustainable food, by 
changing the types and nutritional composition of the 
food they produce, their choice of suppliers, or their 
production methods.

In 2018, there were 289 thousand F&B processing 
enterprises in the EU, equivalent to 14.3 % of all 
manufacturing enterprises. The value of their turnover 
was EUR 1 093 billion, of which EUR 222 billion was 
added value. As such, in 2018 the value added of 
F&B processors was around 30 % higher than that of 
agriculture (EUR 170 billion, at producer prices). Some 
4.5 million people were employed in F&B processing 
(15.1 % of the total number of persons employed in 
manufacturing).

Key size class indicators
(%, 2018)

100

80

60

40

20

0

Manufacturing

Food 
manufacturing

Beverages
manufacturing

  Number of enterprises
  Value added
  Number of persons employed

Most F&B processors in the EU are relatively small enterprises serving local 
or national markets. By contrast, there are a few very large F&B processors 
characterised by global brands with considerable market reach.

  Large
  Medium-sized
  Small
  Micro

Note: includes estimates made for the 
purpose of this publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
sbs_sc_ind_r2)

58

The vast majority of the EU’s F&B processors were micro or small enterprises 
that employed fewer than 50 persons. By contrast, large enterprises — 
employing 250 or more persons — accounted for 55.8 % of the total value 
added in food processing, and for an even higher share (67.0 %) of the added 
value in beverage processing.

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition % share of manufacturing totalProcessing of food and beverages

5

Structure of F&B processing
(%, EU, 2018)

19.3

17.5

16.1

10.7

6.2

30.2

Value added

Bakery and 
starch-based
products

Beverages

Meat and 
meat
products

Dairy 
products

Fruit and 
vegetables

Other
food
manufacturing

Employment

33.6

9.2

20.9

8.7

5.8

21.8

Source: Eurostat (online data code: sbs_na_ind_r2)

In 2018, around one third (33.6 %) of the EU’s 
F&B processing workforce was employed in the 
manufacture of bakery and starch-based products 
(for example bread, cakes, biscuits, pasta and 
noodles). The next highest share was recorded for the 
manufacture of meat and meat products (20.9 %).

Around one fifth (19.3 %) of the value added by 
EU F&B processors was generated within the 
manufacture of bakery and starch-based products, 
closely followed by the manufacture of beverages 
(17.5 %) and the manufacture of meat and meat 
products (16.1 %).

Volume index of production
(2005 = 100, EU, 2005-2020)

120

110

100

90

80

Food

Manufacturing

Beverages

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

The production index shows the development of output; price developments are removed 
in order to show real changes. The level of output of EU food manufacturing had a much 
more uniform development between 2005 and 2020 than the output of manufacturing 
as a whole or from beverage manufacturing. A downturn in economic activity often has 
a greater impact on purchases of non-essential items, whereas demand for essentials — 
such as staple food products — is more likely to be maintained. The considerable decline 
(-8.6 %) in the output of beverage manufacturing in 2020 reflects a fall in demand linked 
at least in part to the closure of F&B serving businesses during parts of the COVID-19 
pandemic and to restrictions when they were allowed to operate.

Note: index 
originally compiled 
with 2015 = 100; 
rescaled to 2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: sts_inpr_a)

59

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition   5 Processing of food and beverages

Value added and employment in 
the EU Member States

Share of EU F&B manufacturing
(%, 2018)

Other (EU)
44.9

21.3

DE

Other (EU)
33.1

22.0

DE

VALUE ADDED

IT

12.3

EMPLOYMENT

FR

14.9

ES

10.3

NL

5.6

PL

5.6

ES

9.6

IT
10.2

PL

10.2

Although 2018 data on value added by F&B processing enterprises in France 
are not available, the corresponding figure in 2017 was 10 % higher than that 
for Germany and greater than for any other Member State. In 2018, Germany 
accounted for a 21.3 % share of the EU’s added value for F&B processing, 
the next highest shares being for Italy (12.3 %) and Spain (10.3 %). In 2018, 
Germany had the highest share (22.0 %) of the EU workforce employed 
by F&B processors, followed by France (14.9 %). Poland and Italy 
were the only other EU Member States to record double-digit 
shares (both 10.2 %). 

Note: IE, FR and FI, not available for 
value added (estimates included in 
other EU Member States); IE, SI and 
FI, not available for employment 
(estimates included in other EU 
Member States).

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
sbs_na_ind_r2)

60

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition IS

CY

EL

NO

HR

FR

ES

LT

LV

NL

MT

BE

BG

PL

PT

EE

DK

EU

IT

AT

HU

RO

LU

CH

FI

CZ

DE

SE

SI

SK

Processing of food and beverages

5

Share of F&B processing within 
manufacturing
(%, 2018)

  Value added                    
  Employment

F&B processing employed 15.1 % of the 
EU’s manufacturing workforce in 2018 
and accounted for an 11.4 % share of 
manufacturing value added. Several 
EU Member States recorded a much 
higher share of manufacturing activity 
concentrated within F&B processing. This 
was most notably the case in Cyprus and 
Greece, where more than one third of the 
manufacturing workforce was employed 
in F&B processing. At the other end of the 
scale, F&B processing provided work to 
no more than 1 in 10 people across the 
manufacturing workforces of Sweden, 
Czechia and Slovakia.

In 2018, the contribution of F&B processors 
to manufacturing employment was, 
in each of the EU Member States, 
consistently higher than their contribution 
to manufacturing value added. In other 
words, F&B processors were characterised 
by levels of labour productivity below 
the manufacturing average. This can 
be explained by a number of factors, 
including relatively low average wages and 
salaries and high seasonal and part-time 
employment.

EU
11.4 %    
of value added
15.1 % of
employment

0

10

20

30

40

50

Note: ranked on value added. 
IE: not available. FR: value added, 2017. 
SI: employment not available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
sbs_na_ind_r2)

61

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition   5 Processing of food and beverages

Manufactured F&B products

Principal producers of the top 10 manufactured F&B products
(EUR billion, 2020)

F&B processors manufacture a vast array of products 
that range from staple food products to luxury, 
sometimes high value items. Based on the Prodcom list 
for 2020, non-processed cheese — including, among 
many others, Brie, Edam, Feta or Gorgonzola — was 
the manufactured F&B product with the highest value 
(EUR 30.5 billion) of EU production. This product is of 
particular importance for dairy farmers. A majority of 
the non-processed cheese produced in the EU was 
manufactured by enterprises from Italy (EUR 6.3 billion), 
France (EUR 6.2 billion) and Germany (EUR 5.9 billion).

The second and third highest values of production 
were recorded for fresh bread and beer, with EU 
output valued at EUR 28.5 billion and EUR 27.2 billion 
respectively. These products are of importance for 
cereal producers, in particular, those growing wheat 
and rye for bread and barley for beer. Germany was 
the principal producer in the EU for both products, 
accounting for more than one third of the EU’s fresh 
bread and approximately one fifth of its beer.

Note: the chart shows the top 5 producers for each 
selected product and the contribution from the 
remaining EU Member States. The category of other 
EU Member States includes estimates for those 
Member States for which data are not available. 

Fresh bread: SE, not available. Beer: BE, IE, FR and SI, not 
available. Sausages: DK and SE, not available. Cake and 
pastries: BE, not available. Soft drinks: BE, not available. 
Poultry cuts, fresh or chilled: IE, LV and SI, not available. 
Poultry feed preparations: DK, not available.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: DS-066341)

62

30.5Cheese, non-processed28.527.2BeerSausagesCake and pastriesPig meat cuts,fresh or chilledSoft drinksBeef and veal cuts,fresh or chilledPoultry cuts,fresh or chilledPoultry feedpreparations22.620.820.419.114.413.312.9Other (EU) DEFRITESPLNLATIEFresh bread  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Processing of food and beverages

5

EU top 
manufactured 
F&B product

EUR
30.5
billion

Largest manufactured F&B 
products
(EUR billion, 2020)

Greece, France, Italy and the Netherlands 
were among those EU Member States that 
reported their highest value of production 
among food products for non-processed 
cheese. Five EU Member States — Bulgaria, 
Croatia, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia 
— were relatively specialised in the 
production of sausages, while Ireland and 
Sweden were specialised in fresh or chilled 
cuts of beef and veal and Spain in fresh or 
chilled cuts of pig meat.

Concerning beverage products, Austria had 
the highest value of production among 
EU Member States for soft drinks, France 
for the production of champagne, and 
Spain for the production of non-alcoholic 
beverages (other than soft drinks or milk).

DE

10.2

IT

FR

AT

ES

NL

PL

IE

DK

BE

6.3

6.2

4.5

3.9

2.8

2.0

1.5

1.5

1.3

RO

1.1

CZ

EL

SE

PT

1.0

0.9

0.9

0.6

HU

0.5

FI

BG

SK

HR

LT

SI

LV

EE

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1

Note: CY, LU and MT, not 
available. Based on products in 
the Prodcom list.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
code: DS-066341)

Cheese, 
non-processed

Fresh bread

Soft drinks

Fresh or chilled 
cuts of pig 
meat

Sausages

Fresh or 
chilled cuts 
of beef 
and veal

Beer

Frozen 
pig meat

Frozen 
potatoes

Dog or cat 
food

Fresh cheese 
(including 
whey cheese 
and curd)

63

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition   6

Trade in agricultural, 
fishery, food and 
beverage products

6 Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

Trade and trade balance

Extra-EU trade developments for agricultural, fisheries and F&B products
(EUR billion, EU, 2010-2020)

200

175

150

125

100

75

50

25

0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

  Exports
   Imports

  Trade balance

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: DS-645593)

The EU aims to ensure there is a sustainability chapter 
in its international trade agreements. In doing 
so, it seeks to develop bilateral commitments, for 
example in areas such as animal welfare, food safety, 
cooperation and aid for developing countries, or fair 
trade access to markets.

In 2020, the EU exported to non-member countries 
(also referred to as extra-EU trade) agricultural and 

fisheries products as well as food and beverage (F&B) 
products that together were valued at EUR 179 billion. 
This was EUR 40.0 billion higher than the value of 
extra-EU imports of such products, with the EU’s 
trade surplus widening for the fifth consecutive year. 
Agricultural, fisheries and F&B products accounted for 
9.3 % of all exported goods that left the EU in 2020 and 
for 8.1 % of all goods imported into the EU.

Share of extra-EU trade in agricultural, fisheries and F&B products
(% based on value, 2020)

NL
16.8

Other (EU)
33.7

EXPORTS

FR
15.9

IT
10.6

DE
11.8

ES
11.2

Other (EU)
31.9

NL
23.0

IMPORTS

IT
9.3

FR
10.3

ES
11.8

DE
13.7

In 2020, the Netherlands 
accounted for 16.8 % of the EU’s 
exports of agricultural, fisheries 
and F&B products to non-
member countries and almost 
one quarter (23.0 %) of the EU’s 
of these products. This reflects, 
in part, its favourable location 
as a logistics hub including 
the EU’s largest sea freight 
port (Rotterdam), with goods 
imported from and exported to 
the rest of the world.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 

DS-645593)

66

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

6

Extra-EU trade balance for agricultural, fisheries and F&B products
(EUR billion, 2020)

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

-2

-4

Net exporters

R
F

T

I

L
P

K
D

S
E

E

I

E
D

T
A

OL
T
R

V
L

E
B

U
H

G
B

R
H

E
E

L
E

Z
C

T
M

K
S

T
P

Y
C

U
L

I

S

I

F

L
N

E
-S

Net importers

Most EU Member States recorded a trade surplus for agricultural, fisheries and F&B 
products with non-member countries; the highest extra-EU trade surpluses in 2020 were 
recorded by France (EUR 14.2 billion), Italy (EUR 6.1 billion) and Poland (EUR 4.3 billion). 
Sweden had the largest trade deficit in these products in 2020 (EUR 3.5 billion).

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: DS-645593)

Intra-EU trade balance for agricultural, fisheries and F&B products
(EUR billion, 2020)

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25

Net exporters

L
N

S
E

L
P

E
B

U
H

K
D

GI
G
E
B
B

T
L

I

S

T
EM

E

L
E

Y
C

V
L

U
L

R
H

T
A

K
S

Z
TC

I

E
S

I

F

T
P

O
R

R
F

E
E
D
D

Net importers

In 2020, more than two thirds of the EU’s total trade in agricultural, fisheries and F&B 
products was between EU Member States (also referred to as intra-EU trade) reflecting, 
in part, the perishable nature of some products. The largest intra-EU trade surpluses 
in 2020 for agricultural, fisheries and F&B products were recorded by the Netherlands 
(EUR 30.9 billion) and Spain (EUR 16.0 billion); the large surplus for the Netherlands reflects 
the fact that goods imported from all over the world are re-exported to other EU Member 
States. By contrast, France (EUR 7.4 billion) and in particular Germany (EUR 22.5 billion) 
recorded the biggest intra-EU trade deficits for agricultural, fisheries and F&B products.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: DS-645593)

67

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     
 
6 Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

Traded products

Intra- and extra-EU trade in agricultural, fisheries and F&B products
(EUR billion, EU, 2020)

91.3

44.9

137.2 134.1

Food and
beverage
products

11.4

6.9

15.8

15.7

Vegetable
 or animal
oils and fats

Note: due to quasi-transit trade, the addition of intra-
EU trade and extra-EU trade may lead to double 
counting. An example of this would be goods 
imported from China via the Netherlands, where 
they are cleared by customs for free circulation, 
before being dispatched to Germany. This would 
lead to the same goods being counted as imports 
by both the Netherlands and Germany. More 
precisely, they would appear in the Netherlands’ 
extra-EU imports from China and intra-EU exports 
to Germany and in Germany’s intra-EU imports from 
the Netherlands.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: DS-645593)

EXPORTS

IMPORTS

Extra-EU 
Intra-EU 

Extra-EU 
Intra-EU 

54.8

37.7

92.0

93.2

43.1

27.9

88.9

87.3

240

220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Crop
and crop
products

Animals
and animal
products

The EU generally imports raw, unprocessed agricultural and fishery 
products, while its principal exports are processed F&B products. 
For example, a number of crops and crop products, including 
varieties of nuts, fruit and coffee beans, can only be grown in 
certain climates outside the EU. This helps explain why the EU 
imported crop and crop products from non-member countries 
in 2020 that were valued at EUR 54.8 billion, some EUR 17.1 billion 
higher than its exports of these products. The EU also recorded a 
trade deficit for vegetable or animal oils and fats (EUR 4.5 billion).

By contrast, the EU exported (processed) F&B products to non-
member countries in 2020 that were valued at EUR 91.3 billion, 
which was more than twice as high as the value of its imports 
(EUR 44.9 billion) of these products. The EU also recorded a trade 
surplus for animals and animal products (EUR 15.2 billion).

68

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

6

Share of EU Member States within extra-EU trade
(% based on value, 2020)

Crop and 
crop products

29.7

7.2

21.6

EXPORTS

16.3

12.2

13.0

NL
FR
ES
DE
IT
Other (EU)

24.4

25.0

IMPORTS

10.7

16.1

10.8

12.1

NL
DE
ES
IT
FR
Other (EU)

Animals
and animal
products

34.7

17.0

EXPORTS

15.4

10.4

10.4

12.0

28.3

30.1

5.8

6.9

EXPORTS

17.2

11.7

32.5

7.0

19.1

EXPORTS

15.1

12.0

14.3

Vegetable
 or animal
oils 
and fats

Food and
beverage
products

NL

ES

DE

DK

FR

14.6

36.2

IMPORTS

NL

SE

ES

DE

FR

14.2

13.6

Other (EU)

10.4

10.9

Other (EU)

ES

IT

NL

DE

FR

Other (EU)

FR
NL
IT
DE
ES
Other (EU)

18.2

33.9

IMPORTS

4.9

7.5

15.4

NL

ES

IT

DE

FR

20.1

Other (EU))

23.1

35.9

IMPORTS

14.0

7.6

11.0

8.3

NL
DE
FR
ES
IE
Other (EU)

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: DS-645593)

The Netherlands role as a logistical hub for trade was evident for all four main product groups 
within agricultural, fisheries and F&B products: in 2020, the Netherlands recorded the highest 
share of extra-EU exports for crop and crop products (21.6 % of the EU total) and for animals 
and animal products (17.0 %), while Spain had the highest share of exports for vegetable or 
animal oils and fats (30.1 %), and France the highest share of exports for F&B products (19.1 %).

The Netherlands also recorded the highest share of extra-EU imports for vegetable or animal 
oils and fats (33.9 % of the EU total), crop and crop products (25.0 %), F&B products (23.1 %), 
and animals and animal products (14.6 %).

69

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    6 Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

Live trees & other plants;
bulbs, roots & the like;
cut flowers & ornamental foliage

Edible vegetables
and certain roots and tubers

Edible fruit and nuts;
peel of citrus fruits or melons

Coffee, tea, maté and spices

Cereals

Products of the milling industry;
malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten

Oil seeds & oleaginous fruits;
miscellaneous grains, seeds & fruit; industrial
or medicinal plants; straw and fodder

Lac; gums, resins and
other vegetable saps and extracts

Vegetable plaiting materials;
vegetable products n.e.s. or included

Live animals

Meat and edible meat offal

Fish and crustaceans, molluscs
& other aquatic invertebrates

Dairy produce; birds' eggs; natural
honey and edible products of animal origin
not elsewhere specified or included

Products of animal origin, n.e.s. or included

Animal or vegetable fats and oils
and their cleavage products; prepared
edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes
Preparations of meat, of fish
or of crustaceans,  molluscs
or other aquatic invertebrates

Sugars and sugar confectionery

Cocoa and cocoa preparations

Preparations of cereals, flour,
starch or milk; pastrycooks' products

Preparations of vegetables,
fruit, nuts or other parts of plants

Miscellaneous edible preparations

Beverages, spirits and vinegar

Residues & waste from the food
industries; prepared animal fodder

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

70

Extra-EU trade in agricultural, 
fisheries and F&B products
(EUR billion, EU, 2020)

Crop & crop products

  Exports
  Imports 

Animals & animal products

  Exports
  Imports

Vegetable or animal oils & fats

  Exports
  Imports
F&B products
  Exports
  Imports

A more detailed view of extra-EU 
trade in 2020 shows the EU’s principal 
exports included beverages, spirits and 
vinegar (EUR 30.6 billion), meat and 
edible meat offal (EUR 18.9 billion) and 
preparations of cereals, flour, starch or 
milk (EUR 17.1 billion). The EU’s principal 
imports included edible fruit and nuts 
(EUR 20.1 billion) and fish, crustaceans and 
aquatic invertebrates (EUR 19.5 billion).

The EU ran a sizeable trade deficit 
in 2020 for several crop and crop 
products, including: edible fruit and nuts 
(EUR 14.1 billion), oilseeds and oleaginous 
fruits (EUR 7.4 billion) and coffee, tea, mate 
and spices (EUR 6.6 billion). For animals 
and animal products, the EU’s largest 
trade surpluses were recorded for meat 
and edible meat offal (EUR 14.9 billion) 
and dairy produce (including cheese, milk 
and yoghurts), birds’ eggs and natural 
honey (EUR 13.2 billion), while the EU had 
a trade deficit of EUR 14.8 billion for fish, 
crustaceans and aquatic invertebrates. 
Among F&B products, the EU’s largest trade 
surpluses were recorded for beverages, 
spirits and vinegar (EUR 22.8 billion) and 
preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk 
(EUR 14.1 billion).

Source: Eurostat (online data code: DS-645593)

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Trade partners

EXPORTS

IMPORTS

Crop
and crop
products

Animals
and animal
products

Vegetable
 or animal
oils and fats

Food and
beverage
products

24.0
United Kingdom
7.3
Switzerland
6.6
United States
4.4
Russia
4.1
China
53.8
Other (world)

22.8
China
20.8
United Kingdom
5.6
United States
5.2
Japan
3.4
Switzerland
42.3
Other (world)

18.3
United States
16.9
United Kingdom
6.5
Norway
5.0
Brazil
4.8
China
48.4
Other (world)

25.0
United Kingdom
16.4
United States
6.0
China
5.2
Switzerland
4.5
Russia
42.9
Other (world)

Source: Eurostat (online data code: DS-645593)

Trade in agricultural, fishery, food and beverage products

6

10.7
Brazil
10.1
United States
5.9
Ukraine
4.6
Turkey
4.5
Canada
64.2
Other (world)

22.2
Norway
17.9
United Kingdom
6.8
China
3.9
United States
3.6
Argentina
45.5
Other (world)

22.2
Indonesia
15.8
Malaysia
13.8
Ukraine
5.3
United Kingdom
3.9
Tunisia
38.9
Other (world)

20.0
United Kingdom
9.2
Brazil
7.3
Côte d'Ivoire
5.6
United States
5.4
Argentina
52.4
Other (world)

Extra-EU trade partners for 
agricultural, fisheries and F&B 
products
(%, EU, 2020)

EU exports of agricultural, fisheries and 
F&B products to the United Kingdom were 
valued at EUR 42.0 billion in 2020. This 
represented almost one quarter (23.4 %) 
of the EU’s total exports of these products, 
with the next highest shares recorded by 
the United States (11.8 %) and China (9.6 %). 
The United Kingdom was the main export 
destination for crop and crop products 
(24.0 % of all EU exports within this product 
group) and F&B products (25.0 %), while 
China was the principal destination for 
animals and animal products (22.8 %) and 
the United States for vegetable or animal 
oils and fats (18.3 %).

EU imports of agricultural, fisheries and 
F&B products originating from the United 
Kingdom were valued at EUR 16.8 billion 
in 2020. This equated to 12.1 % of the EU’s 
total imports of agricultural, fisheries and 
F&B products, with Brazil (7.7 %) and the 
United States (6.8 %) recording the next 
highest shares. Norway was the main 
origin for EU imports of animals and animal 
products (22.2 % of all EU imports within 
this product group, principally fish), while 
the United Kingdom was the main origin 
for F&B products (20.0 %), Brazil for crop 
and crop products (10.7 %) and Indonesia 
for vegetable or animal oils and fats 
(22.2 %, principally palm oil).

For more information 
on the extra-EU trade 
in agricultural goods, 
please refer to the 
Statistics Explained 
article.

71

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    Transport7

Yummy
Yummy

Pasta Miam7 Transport

The data in this chapter 
concern goods transported 
on roads in the EU by heavy 
goods vehicles registered 
in the EU Member States or 
EFTA countries. Therefore, 
the figures do not take 
into account products 
transported by vehicles 
registered in other countries 
nor by vehicles below a 
certain threshold (3).

Road transport developments
(EU, 2008-2019)

About 1.2 billion tonnes of agriculture, forestry and fishery products were 
transported on roads in the EU in 2019, along with 1.6 billion tonnes of food, 
beverages and tobacco products (hereafter referred to as F&B and tobacco 
products). These figures cover the transport of goods produced in the EU as well as 
imports from outside the EU.

Between 2008 and 2019, the quantity of agriculture, forestry and fishery products 
transported by road in the EU increased on average by 1.4 % per year; for F&B 
and tobacco products, the average increase was 1.0 % per year. When taking 
account not only of the quantity transported, but also the distance these products 
were transported (the payload distance), average annual increases were 1.6 % for 
agriculture, forestry and fishery products and 1.3 % for F&B and tobacco products. The 
somewhat larger increases for the payload distance than the simple weight indicate 
that the average distance over which these products were transported increased.

Quantity (million tonnes)

1 600

1 400

1 200

1 000

800

350 000

300 000

250 000

200 000

150 000

100 000

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Payload distance (million tonne-kilometres)

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

F&B and tobacco
products

Agriculture, 
forestry and 
ﬁshery products

F&B and tobacco
products

Agriculture, 
forestry and 
ﬁshery products

(3)  Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (https://eur-lex.
europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32012R0070&from=EN) says ‘Each Member State 
may exclude from the scope of this Regulation goods road transport vehicles whose load capacity or 
maximum permissible weight is lower than a certain limit. This limit may not exceed a load capacity of 
3.5 tonnes or maximum permissible weight of 6 tonnes in the case of single motor vehicles.’

Note: goods transported by heavy 
goods vehicles registered in EU 
Member States. 

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
road_go_ta_tg)

74

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Transport

7

Distance of road transport for agriculture, forestry, fishery, F&B and tobacco products
(% based on tonnes, 2019)

Agriculture, forestry and ﬁshery products

33.0

35.4

17.0

21.0

7.7

7.0

10.7

9.7

F&B and tobacco products

27.1

31.4

All products

49.9

24.0

12.9

6.7

6.5

0
km

50
km

150
km

300
km

500
km

The vast majority of agriculture, forestry and fisheries products (85.3 %) and F&B and tobacco 
products (79.6 %) were carried over distances of less than 300 km in 2019. Nevertheless, 
compared with all products (49.9 %), relatively small shares of agriculture, forestry and 
fisheries products (33.0 %) and F&B and tobacco products (27.1 %), were carried over distances 
of less than 50 km. Indeed, for all of the distances ranging from 50-149 km to 500 km or 
longer, the shares for agriculture, forestry and fisheries products and for F&B and tobacco 
products were above those for all products. As such, the average share of road transport for 
these two product categories over relatively long distances was above average.

Within the context of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission aims to 
support measures to reduce this dependence on long-haul transportation though the 
creation of shorter supply chains that enhance the resilience of regional and local food 
systems. The Commission also plans to revise legislation on animal transportation, with the 
goal of improving animal welfare.

Note: goods 
transported by heavy 
goods vehicles 
registered in EU 
Member States. F&B: 
food, beverages and 
tobacco. The shares 
do not always sum to 
100 % due to rounding.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
road_go_ta_dctg)

75

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    7 Transport

Type of road transport for agriculture, forestry, fishery and F&B and tobacco products
(% based on tonnes, 2019)

National 

International — loaded in
the reporting country

International — unloaded in 
the reporting country

Cross-trade and cabotage

100

80

60

40

20

0

Y
C

E
S

R
F

T

I

K
D

I

HF
C

E
D

O
N

Z
C

S
E

E

I

L
E

T

UA
E

E
E

G
B

U
H

T
P

K
S

L
N

E
B

V
L

L
P

R
H

O
R

T
L

I

US
L

Note: the data show the type of operations 
for vehicles registered in the EU Member 
States and EFTA countries. 

FI: Including data of low reliability for 
internationally loaded F&B and tobacco 
products. MT: Not available. 

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: 
road_go_ta_tg, road_go_na_tgtt, 
road_go_ia_lgtt and road_go_ia_ugtt)

The vast majority (90.0 %) of the EU’s road freight 
transport of agriculture, forestry, fishery, F&B and 
tobacco products in 2019 was national transport, in 
other words it was carried out within individual EU 
Member States by vehicles registered in that same 
Member State. The other types of transport that are 
shown concern a) loading and unloading of products 
transported across borders (internationally) for the 
country where a vehicle is registered and b) cabotage 
(transport within a country other than the vehicle 
registration country) and cross-trade (transport 
between a place of loading and a place of unloading in 
two different countries, neither of which is the country 
of vehicle registration). On average, the loading of 
goods for international transport accounted for 4.1 % 
of the total quantity of agriculture, forestry, fishery, F&B 

and tobacco products transported in the EU, while 
unloading after international transport accounted for 
2.8 %. Other transport — cross-trade and cabotage — 
accounted for the remaining 3.1 % of the total.

National transport dominated road freight transport of 
agriculture, forestry, fishery, F&B and tobacco products 
in 2019 in all EU Member States. Only in a few of the 
smaller Member States, like Luxembourg, Slovenia and 
Lithuania, was the share of national transport below 
75 %; the combined share for cabotage and cross-
trade was particularly high in these three Member 
States, alongside high shares of international loading 
and unloading. Relatively high shares of international 
transport were also recorded for some Member States 
with large maritime freight ports, such as Belgium and 
the Netherlands.

76

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Transport 
into NL 

5.5

11.6

NL
13.5 mt

45.2

37.8

DE

BE

FR

Other (world)

International origins of 
agriculture, forestry, fishery, 
F&B and tobacco products 
transported by road
(% based on tonnes, 2019)

Transport

7

Information on the EU Member States where 
loading and unloading of international 
transport took place can illustrate transport 
routes. Based on the tonnes of goods 
unloaded in each Member State from 
vehicles registered in that same Member 
State, the largest destinations within the 
EU for the international road transport of 
agriculture, forestry, fishery, F&B and tobacco 
products were the Netherlands (17.4 %, or 
13.5 million tonnes), Poland (15.6 %, or 12.1 
million tonnes), Spain (13.8 %, or 10.8 million 
tonnes), Germany (11.8 %, or 9.2 million 
tonnes) and Belgium (6.5 %, or 5.0 million 
tonnes).

Many of these flows were between 
neighbouring EU Member States. This was 
clearly the case for products unloaded in 
the Netherlands and Belgium, where more 
than 90 % of their international road freight 
transport (carried by nationally-registered 
vehicles) came from just three neighbouring 
Member States. The origin of these products 
unloaded in Poland was more varied and 
widespread.

Note: the shares are calculated from the quantity of 
goods unloaded (after international road transport) 
from vehicles registered in the same EU Member 
State where the unloading takes place. Million tonnes 
denoted by 'mt'.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: road_go_ia_ugtt)

Transport 
into PL

36.0

28.0

14.0

PL
12.1 mt

6.1

7.9

8.0

Transport 
into ES 

4.6

5.9

ES
10.8 mt

59.4

6.0

6.3

7.4

10.4

DE
NL
IT
ES
CZ

Other (world)

FR
PT
NL
IT
BE
DE

Other (world)

Transport 
into DE

16.4

37.6

DE
9.2 mt

10.5

10.5

NL
DK

BE

FR

AT

11.9

13.2

Other (world)

Transport 
into BE

6.7

6.9

18.6

BE
5.0 mt

67.8

FR

NL

DE

Other (world)

77

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    8

Wholesale, retail and 
services provision of 
food and beverages

MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM

MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM MIAM

Pasta Pasta Pasta

MILKMILKMILKMILKMILKMILK8 Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

Key figures for the EU

Size of wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B
(EU, 2018)

2 669 
thousand
enterprises

EUR 2 484
billion 
turnover

EUR 424 
billion 
value added

16 445
thousand
persons
employed

Enterprises trading or serving food and beverages (F&B) include F&B wholesalers and 
retailers (who also trade tobacco) as well as F&B serving businesses — such as restaurants, 
bars, cafés and caterers. As part of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, the European 
Commission will seek commitments from these businesses on a range of health and 
sustainability issues, for example: reformulating food products in line with guidelines for 
healthy diets; reducing their environmental footprint; or reducing packaging.

There were 2.7 million F&B trade and serving enterprises in the EU in 2018: 265 thousand 
were wholesalers, 888 thousand were retailers and 1.5 million were F&B serving enterprises. 
Together they generated EUR 2.48 trillion of turnover and added EUR 424 billion of value, 
while employing 16.4 million persons.

Wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B
(EU, 2011 and 2018)

Note: F&B covers 
food and beverages; 
for wholesaling and 
retailing, it also covers 
tobacco. These trade 
and service activities 
include NACE codes: 
46.17, 46.3, 47.11, 47.2, 
47.81 and 56.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data codes: 
sbs_na_dt_r2 and 
sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

Number of enterprises
(thousands)

Turnover
(EUR billion)

Value added 
(EUR billion) 

Number of persons 
employed (thousands)

2011

2018

+ 9

2 660
2 669

2 129

2 484

329

424

14 319

16 445

+ 355

+ 95

+ 2 126

In 2018, the number of enterprises in F&B trade and 
serving in the EU was approximately the same as in 
2011. However, on average, these enterprises grew; they 
employed an extra 2.1 million persons, increased their 
turnover by EUR 355 billion and their value added by 
EUR 95 billion.

Note: different scales are used for each indicator in the chart. Value 
added: data are presented for 2012 instead of 2011. Value added: 
data are presented for 2012 instead of 2011.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: sbs_na_dt_r2 and 
sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

80

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

8

Structure of wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B
(%, EU, 2018)

Number of 
enterprises

Value
added 

Number of 
persons
employed

2.3

1.6

0.9

7.6

22.1

11.2

F&B
wholesale
agents

F&B 
wholesale 
resellers

Non-specialised
 in-store
 F&B retail

13.5

33.0

29.2

Specialised
 in-store
 F&B retail

F&B retail
 via stalls
 and markets

16.2

3.6

6.3

0.5

8.2

1.0

As is common for wholesaling in general, 
most F&B wholesalers in the EU in 2018 
were resellers, buying and selling products. 
Wholesale resellers accounted for the vast 
majority of value added by F&B wholesalers 
as well as of its workforce; F&B wholesale 
agents (trading on commissions) had much 
lower shares.

The most common type of F&B retailer 
was specialised in-store retailers, such 
as greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers, 
bakers and tobacconists. These specialists 
outnumbered enterprises that were 
non-specialised in-store retailers with 
F&B predominating, such as general 
grocers and supermarkets. However, in 
terms of value added and employment, 
non-specialised in-store F&B retailers were 
considerably larger than their specialised 
competitors.

Whereas the majority (56.8 %) of all F&B 
trade and serving enterprises in the EU in 
2018 were in the F&B serving activity, this 
activity’s contributions  to value added 
and employment were lower, 36.3 % and 
49.6 % respectively.

F&B serving

56.8

36.3

49.6

Note: due to rounding, some of the totals do not 
sum to 100 %. F&B serving cover all forms of serving 
activities, including (among others): restaurants, 
mobile food outlets, caterers, bars and cafes.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: sbs_na_dt_r2 
and sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

81

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    160

150

140

130

120

110

100

90

Non-specialised in-store 

F&B retail

F&B wholesale resellers

Specialised in-store F&B retail

Non-ﬁnancial services

F&B serving

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

8 Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

Key size class indicators for wholesaling, specialised retailing 
and serving of F&B
(%, 2018)

Number of enterprises

Value added

Number of persons employed

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Enterprises can be classified according to their size in terms of employment: micro 
enterprises have less than 10 persons employed, small enterprises have 10-49, 
medium-sized enterprises have 50-249, and large enterprises have 250 or more. As is 
true for many non-financial services, F&B trade and serving were dominated in 2018 
by micro enterprises. Among those F&B trade and serving activities for which size class 
data are available, wholesale resellers recorded the lowest share of micro enterprises 
and the highest share for each of the three larger size classes.

Micro enterprises also contributed less value added and employment among 
wholesale resellers than was the case for the other two F&B activities shown. By 
contrast, micro enterprises contributed more than half of total value added and 
employment among specialised in-store F&B retailers. The combined shares of micro 
and small enterprises accounted for just over two thirds of total value added and just 
over three quarters of total employment among F&B serving enterprises, considerably 
higher than the average for all non-financial services.

All non-ﬁnancial services

F&B wholesale resellers

Specialised in-store F&B retail

F&B serving

All non-ﬁnancial services

F&B wholesale resellers

Specialised in-store F&B retail

F&B serving

All non-ﬁnancial services

F&B wholesale resellers

Specialised in-store F&B retail

F&B serving

  Micro
  Small
  Medium-sized
  Large

Note: includes estimates 
made for the purpose of this 
publication.

Source: Eurostat (online data 
codes: sbs_sc_dt_r2 and 
sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

82

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

8

Turnover index for wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B
(2005 = 100, EU, 2005-2020)

160

150

140

130

120

110

100

90

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Non-specialised in-store 
F&B retail
F&B wholesale resellers

Specialised in-store F&B retail

Non-ﬁnancial services

F&B serving

Note: index originally compiled with 
2015 = 100; rescaled to 2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: 
sts_trtu_a and sts_setu_a)

In current price terms, the turnover of enterprises in the EU serving F&B 
increased 50 % between 2005 and 2019, an average annual increase of 2.9 %. 
Turnover in this activity was particularly hard hit in 2020 by the COVID-19 
crisis: governments of many EU Member States closed F&B outlets or imposed 
restrictions on this activity for large parts of the year. F&B wholesalers also 
experienced a fall in their turnover in 2020, whereas specialised and non-
specialised F&B in-store retailers experienced increases in turnover, in part 
because people were eating more often at home.

Volume index of sales for retailing of F&B
(2005 = 100, EU, 2005-2020)

120

115

110

105

100

95

90

85

80

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Non-specialised in-store 
F&B retail
Specialised in-store F&B retail

Note: index originally compiled with 
2015 = 100; rescaled to 2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
sts_trtu_a)

For retail trade, a volume index of sales is available: this has been adjusted to 
remove the change in prices of the retailed products. After this adjustment, 
sales from specialised in-store F&B retailing in the EU were lower in 2020 
than they had been in 2005, whereas sales from non-specialised in-store F&B 
retailing were higher.

83

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    8 Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

Turnover, value added and 
employment in the EU Member States

Share of EU wholesaling, retailing and serving of F&B
(%, 2018)

Turnover

Value added

DE
20.7

FR
19.2

FR
20.8

DE
21.3

Employment

IT
12.1

ES
11.5

Other (EU)

NL
6.1 28.8

IT
13.2

ES
12.4

Other (EU)

NL
6.2 27.7

DE
21.6

ES
13.9

IT
13.5

FR
11.8

Other (EU)

NL
5.3 33.9

Note: turnover and value added shares for NL are 
underestimates, as wholesale agents and retail via 
stalls and markets are excluded from the NL data.

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: sbs_na_dt_r2 
and sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

The relative size of each EU Member State within the 
EU’s F&B trade and serving activities reflects a number 
of factors. While the size of the population clearly 
influences the overall level of sales, so do cultural 
factors related to the consumption of F&B products as 
well as differences in price levels.

Whereas France had the highest share of the EU’s 
total turnover for F&B trade and serving in 2020, 
the value that it added from these sales was less 

than in Germany. Like Germany, Italy, Spain and 
the Netherlands all had greater contributions 
to the EU’s value added than to its turnover. 
Given France’s high shares of the EU’s turnover 
and value added in F&B trade and serving, its 
employment share was particularly low; this 
was mainly due to a relatively low level of 
employment in F&B serving.

84

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Wholesale, retail and services provision of food and beverages

8

Share of wholesaling, retailing and serving of 
F&B within non-financial services
(%, 2018)

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Y
C

S
E

T
P

R
H

T

I

R
F

L
E

O
R

S

I

Z
C

T
A

UL
T
E

U
H

V
L

I

ES
B

G
B

L
P

E
E

T
M

L
N

I

UF
L

E
S

E
D

O
N

E

I

K
S

K
D

H
C

Employment
Turnover
Value added

Note: underestimates 
(due to one or more 
missing activities) for 
CZ, DK, EE, LU, MT, NL 
and CH.

Source: Eurostat (online 
data codes: sbs_na_
sca_r2, sbs_na_dt_r2 
and sbs_na_1a_se_r2)

F&B trade and serving contributed 19.5 % of all employment within the EU’s non-financial 
services sector in 2019, as well as 17.0 % of turnover and 11.3 % of value added. Note that 
some of these F&B activities have a high proportion of part-time or seasonal workers and 
that employment figures are based on a simple headcount.

F&B trade and serving made relatively large contributions to non-financial services in many 
EU Member States that are known for being tourist destinations, such as Cyprus, Spain, 
Portugal, Croatia, Italy, France and Greece. In some Member States, the high share of these 
activities may reflect other non-financial services being less developed, rather than a 
particularly high level of F&B trade and serving activities.

For value added, the highest share of F&B trade and serving within non-financial services in 
2018 was 16.7 % in Cyprus. The highest share for turnover was 25.5 % in Greece where the 
highest share for employment (33.5 %) was also observed.

85

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    Human consumption 
of food and 

beverages9

9 Human consumption of food and beverages

Household expenditure

Share of
 all household
consumption 
expenditure (%)
 21.5 

Expenditure 
per person
 EUR 3 530

Total 
expenditure
 EUR 1.58
trillion
1.58 trillion
1.58 trillion
1.58 trillion
1.58 trillion
1.58 trillion
€
1.58 trillion
€
1.58 trillion
€
€
€
€
€

Source: Eurostat (online data 
code: nama_10_co3)

Share of total household consumption expenditure
(%, EU, 2005-2019)

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Food

Catering services

Alcoholic beverages

Non-alcoholic 
beverages

Source: Eurostat (online data code: nama_10_co3)

88

Annual household 
consumption 
expenditure on F&B 
and catering services
(EU, 2019)

Food and beverages (F&B) are 
recurrent expenditure items 
for all households. There is a 
wide variety of these products 
available to EU citizens, 
whether on a retail basis or 
provided as a service (referred 
to as catering in this chapter). 
Purchases often reflect local, 
regional and national cuisine 
and may play a role in cultural 
identity.

In the EU, final consumption 
expenditure of households on 
F&B and catering services was 
valued at EUR 1.58 trillion in 
2019, equivalent to EUR 3 530 
per person. Expenditure on 
these items accounted for 21.5 % 
of all household consumption 
expenditure: 11.8 % was on 
food, 6.9 % on catering services, 
1.6 % on alcoholic beverages 
and 1.2 % on non-alcoholic 
beverages. These shares have 
remained fairly stable during 
the past 15 years (note the latest 
data available do not cover 
the COVID-19 crisis). The most 
notable development was a 
gradual increase in expenditure 
on catering services between 
2013 and 2019.

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Human consumption of food and beverages

9

Share of total household consumption expenditure
(%, 2019)

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

E
E

L
E

O
R

V
L

T
M

U
H

T
L

R
H

T
P

S
E

K
S

Z
C

G
B

E

I

S

I

T

I

L
P

Y
C

T

UA
E

I

RS
F

I

EF
S

E
B

L
N

K
D

U
L

E
D

Catering services
Alcoholic beverages
Non-alcoholic beverages
Food

There is considerable variation between the EU Member States as concerns 
the proportion of household expenditure used for F&B and catering services. 
The lowest shares in 2019 were in Germany (16.6 %) and Luxembourg (16.9 %) 
and the highest was in Estonia (30.2 %).

Note: tobacco and narcotics included 
in alcoholic beverages for MT.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
nama_10_co3)

In most EU Member States, food was the largest of the F&B and catering 
services expenditure items. In 2019, exceptions were Ireland, Austria, Malta 
and Spain, where more was spent on catering services. Catering services were 
generally the second largest expenditure item, although in Poland and Latvia 
expenditure on alcoholic beverages was higher. Malta was the only Member 
State where more was spent on non-alcoholic than on alcoholic beverages.

Share of EU household consumption expenditure on F&B and catering services
(%, 2019)

Other (EU)
28.0

DE

18.0

Germany had an 18.0 % share of the EU’s total 
household consumption expenditure on F&B and 
catering services in 2019. Although this was the 
highest share in the EU, it was lower than Germany’s 
share of the EU population. By contrast, France, Italy 
and Spain all recorded higher shares of the EU’s 
household consumption expenditure on these items 
than their shares of the EU population.

Note: tobacco and narcotics included in alcoholic beverages for 
MT. Due to rounding, the total does not sum to 100.0 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: nama_10_co3)

FR

16.7

NL

PL

4.2

4.4

ES

IT

12.7

15.9

89

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     9 Human consumption of food and beverages

Consumer prices

Developments of consumer prices
(2005 = 100, EU, 2005-2020)

150

140

130

120

110

100

90

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note: index originally compiled with 2015 = 100; 
rescaled to 2005 = 100.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: prc_hicp_aind)

EUR

Prices

Catering services
Food

Alcoholic beverages
Non-alcoholic beverages

Price is a key consideration for many consumers when deciding 
what to eat and drink; they can therefore impact on the choice of 
more sustainable and healthy diets.

Between 2005 and 2020, consumer prices in the EU increased 
overall by 26.7 %. Consumer price increases for F&B and catering 
services were similar or higher: up 26.9 % for non-alcoholic 
beverages, 29.9 % for alcoholic beverages, 36.5 % for food and 
39.3 % for catering services.

90

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition 150

140

130

120

110

100

90

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Catering services

Food

Alcoholic beverages

Non-alcoholic beverages

Human consumption of food and beverages

9

Overall change in consumer prices
(%, 2005-2020)

Food and
non-alcoholic
beverages

Alcoholic
beverages

Catering 
services

S
U I
H

V
L

G
B

T
L

E
E

T
M

I

O S
R

L
P

Z
C

K
S

T
A

U
L

E
B

E
S

E
D

Y
C

U
E

R
H

O
N

I

K F
D

L
N

S
E

T

I

R
F

L
E

T
P

H I
E
C

Note: ranked on food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: prc_hicp_aind)

Consumer prices for food and non-alcoholic 
beverages doubled between 2005 and 2020 in 
Hungary and rose by at least 50 % in nine other EU 
Member States. By contrast, prices fell by 6.7 % in 
Ireland. For the EU as a whole, the increase in the price 
of food and non-alcoholic beverages was 35.7 %.

For alcoholic beverages, consumer prices nearly 
doubled between 2005 and 2020 in Estonia (up 
95.1 %), and also increased by at least two thirds 

in Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. Cyprus 
recorded a slight fall (down 0.9 %) in the price of 
alcoholic beverages between 2005 and 2020, while 
prices in Ireland fell by 11.4 %.

Consumer prices of catering services at least doubled 
in Lithuania (where the increase was 127.2 %), 
Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia. The smallest 
increase in the price of catering services was in 
Greece, up 27.2 %.

140
140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

-20
-20

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

-20
-20

140
140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

-20

91

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     300

250

200

150

100

50

0

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

9 Human consumption of food and beverages

Price level comparisons
(EU = 100, 2020)

Food

Non-
alcoholic
beverages

Alcoholic
beverages

H
C

O
N

S

I

K
D

U
L

T
A

E
S

I

RF
F

E
B

T
M

E

I

T

I

Y
C

L
N

E
D

L
UE
E

I

TS
P

E
E

K
S

S
E

V
L

R
H

Z
C

UL
T
H

G
B

L
P

O
R

Note: ranked on food. 

Source: Eurostat (online data code: prc_ppp_ind)

Despite considerable differences in the developments 
of consumer prices over the last 15 years, a 
geographic pattern can still be observed in 
price levels for food in 2020. Central and Eastern EU 
Member States had price levels below the EU average, 
as did Spain and Portugal. The western, Nordic 
and remaining southern Member States had above 
average food prices. In Romania, food prices were 
65.3 % of the EU average whereas in Denmark they 
were 128.9 % of the EU average.

For non-alcoholic beverages, only eight EU Member 
States had price levels below the EU average in 2020. 
Four of the six most populous Member States had 
below average prices (Romania, Poland, Italy and 

Spain), while the other two (Germany and France) had 
prices that were slightly above the EU average. Price 
levels for non-alcoholic beverages ranged from 78.9 % 
of the EU average in Romania to 132.0 % in Finland.

A similar situation was observed for alcoholic 
beverages, with four of the six most populous EU 
Member States among the nine Member States where 
prices were below the EU average; France and Italy 
had price levels for alcoholic beverages that were 
just above the EU average. Price levels for alcoholic 
beverages ranged from 72.7 % of the EU average in 
Hungary to 192.7 % in Finland. The large range may 
in part reflect differences in taxation of alcoholic 
beverages.

92

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition w

Human consumption of food and beverages

9

BG 27.6

82,3

15,1

Food poverty
(%, 2019)

In Bulgaria, the share of food poverty was 
particularly high: more than one quarter 
(27.6 %) of all people experienced food 
poverty in 2019, almost double the next 
highest share, 14.2 % in Romania. By contrast, 
0.8 % of people in Cyprus experienced food 
poverty.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: ilc_mdes03)

Food poverty

Developments of food poverty
(%, EU, 2010-2019)

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Note: inability to afford a meal with 
meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian 
equivalent every second day.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
ilc_mdes03)

About 1 in every 15 people (6.8 %) within the EU in 2019 were unable to afford a meal 
with meat, chicken, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent every second day. This was the lowest 
share recorded during the period for which a time series is available (since 2010), and was 
4.4 percentage points lower than the peak of 11.2 % observed in 2012.

Food poverty among adults
(%, EU, 2019)

Male (≥ 16 years)

Female (≥ 16 years)

16-24 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

≥ 65 years

All people
(≥ 16 years)
7.1

6.6

7.6

7.1
7.2

7.2

6.0

5.8

7.9

8.1

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
hlth_dm030)

Among people in the EU aged 16 years or over, 
this measure of food poverty was higher among 
women (7.6 %) than among men (6.6 %) in 2019, 
with the average for persons aged 16 years or 
over (7.1 %) slightly higher than that for the whole 
population (suggesting that children were slightly 
less likely to experience food poverty than adults).

When evaluated by age, the share of people 
experiencing this measure of food poverty in 

2019 was similar for people aged 16-24 years or 
45-54 years (both 7.2 %) to the average for all 
adults. Between these two age groups, a lower 
proportion of people experienced food poverty 
— 6.0 % for people aged 25-34 years and 5.8 % 
for people aged 35-44 years. Among older age 
groups, the shares were clearly above the adult 
average: the proportion of people aged 65 years or 
over that experienced food poverty was 8.1 %.

4,3

3,7

36,9

19,0

3,7

9,7

20,2

11,6

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

4,1

3,7

3,7

5,0

3,7

6,1

7,4

28,1

3,7

7,4

4,3

3,7

11,1

3,7

11,7

3,7

6,1

3,7

3,7

4,9

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

3,7

5,5

3,7

RO 14.2

HU 13.0
SK 12.3
EL, LT 11.7

IT 9.9
LV 9.8

HR 7.9
FR 7.5
EU 6.8

MT 5.8
DE, EE 5.3
CZ 4.9

PL 4.1
AT, SI 3.9
ES 3.8
BE 3.6
NO 3.0
CH 2.6
FI 2.5
NL 2.4
LU, PT 2.3
DK 2.2
SE 2.0
IE 1.7
CY 0.8

93

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition     10

Agriculture and food: 
environment

10 Agriculture and food: environment

Pesticide risk/use

Overall change in the risk from pesticide use
(%, 2019 compared with average for 2011-2013)

60
60

50

40

30

20

10

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

-60

-70
-70

Increase in risk

O
R

U
L

K
D

R
H

Z
C

L
E

R
F

E
S

E
B

L
N

T
M

T
P

U
H

E

I

K
S

U
E

L
P

I

S

E
D

T

I

S
E

T
L

G
B

I

TF
A

Y
C

V
L

E
E

Reduction in risk

Note: more information on harmonised risk indicators is available 
from the European Commission’s website.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: aei_hri)

The types of active substances used in pesticides are 
changing and so the quantity of sales alone is not 
indicative of the potential hazards associated with the 
use of pesticides. Harmonised risk indicators include 
estimates of the risk from pesticide use based on the 
active substances content. The EU’s Farm to Fork 
Strategy aims to reduce by half the risk from pesticide 
use by 2030 (on the basis of a comparison with the 
average risk recorded for 2015-2017).

The risk from pesticide use in the EU was 21 % lower 
in 2019 compared with an average for 2011-2013; note 
this indicator covers all sectors of the economy, not just 
sales to agriculture. During this period, the risk from 
pesticide use declined in a majority of EU Member 
States. The largest decrease was in Romania, down 
62 %. The risk rose in Finland, Austria, Cyprus, Latvia 
and Estonia. Note that such increases may occur for 
countries starting from a baseline much lower than the 
EU average.

96

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agriculture and food: environment

10

Share of Member States in EU pesticide sales
(%, 2019)

19.8

4.4

6.2

9.9

42.4

Insecticides 
and 
acaricides

17.3

DE

ES

FR

PL

NL

Other (EU)

29.1

4.6

5.4

33.1

23.0

20.4

Plant growth 
regulators

17.5

20.4

Herbicides, 
haulm 
destructors 
and moss 
killers

15.5

PL

DE

FR

NL

LT

Other (EU)

FR

ES

DE

PL

IT

Other (EU)

25.6

25.4

5.1

7.6

Fungicides 
and 
bactericides

18.1

ES

FR

IT

DE

PL

18.2

Other (EU)

7.7

10.6

12.7

Sales of pesticides in the EU were about 330 thousand tonnes 
in 2019; this was about 20 thousand tonnes less than in 2018 
and about 30 thousand tonnes less than in 2011.

The EU Member States making the greatest use of pesticides 
varied depending on the type: Germany used the most 
insecticides and acaricides, Spain the most fungicides and 
bactericides, Poland the most plant growth regulators, and 
France the most herbicides.

Note: fungicides and 
bactericides, excluding 
LU. Insecticides and 
acaricides, excluding 
LU.

Source: Eurostat 
(online data code: 
aei_fm_salpest09)

For more and updated 
information on the 
consumption of 
pesticides, please 
refer to the Statistics 
Explained article.

97

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    10 Agriculture and food: environment

Greenhouse gas emissions

There are three principal 
greenhouse gases in relation 
to agricultural processes: 
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane 
(CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). 
To be able to compare and 
combine the emissions of 
these different gases, each 
gas is expressed in tonnes 
of CO2-equivalents (a unit 
based on the global warming 
potential of each gas relative 
to that of carbon dioxide; for 
example, methane is 25 times 
more potent as a greenhouse 
gas than carbon dioxide).

Share of agriculture in total greenhouse gas emissions
(% based on tonnes of CO2 equivalents, EU, 1990 and 2019)

In 2019, agricultural processes in the EU produced 386 million tonnes of 
CO2-equivalents of greenhouse gases. Although emissions from agriculture 
fell by 20.9 % between 1990 and 2019, agriculture’s share of all greenhouse 
gas emissions increased from 9.9 % in 1990 to 10.3 % by 2019. Almost half 
of this overall decrease in the quantity of agricultural greenhouse gas 
emissions took place between 1990 and 1992 and the rest between 1992 
and 2010: since then there has been little change in emission levels.

By far the largest greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture were 
methane and nitrous oxide. Furthermore, agriculture was the largest 
source of emissions of these gases: in 2019, agriculture accounted 
for 54.1 % of methane emissions in the EU and 78.9 % of nitrous oxide 
emissions. Agriculture’s share of all carbon dioxide emissions was less 
than 1.0 % in 2019.

All greenhouse gases

9.9
10.3

Source: Eurostat 
(online 
data code: 
env_air_gge)

Nitrous oxide

Methane

Carbon dioxide

0.4
0.3

62.3

44.7

54.1

78.9

1990

2019

Share of Member States in EU greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
(% based on tonnes of CO2 equivalents, 2019)

FR
18.3

FR
19.6

Other
(EU)
39.2

Methane

DE
15.1

ES
11.4

PL
6.8

IT
9.3

Other
(EU)
39.4

Nitrous
oxide

DE
16.4

RO
6.1

ES
8.1

PL
10.3

Among the EU Member States, 
France recorded the largest 
emissions of methane and 
nitrous oxide from agriculture 
(18.3 % and 19.6 % respectively 
of the EU total), followed by 
Germany.

Note: due to rounding, the totals do 
not sum to 100 %.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
env_air_gge)

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  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Agriculture and food: environment

10

Sectoral structure of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions
(% based on tonnes of CO2 equivalents, EU, 2019)

42.5

39.4

14.4

1.3

1.0

0.8

0.6

Livestock: enteric fermentation

Agricultural soils (managed)

Livestock: manure management

Liming

Urea application

Rice cultivation

Other

Note: liming is the application of calcium- 
and magnesium-rich materials to soils.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: 
env_air_gge)

Enteric fermentation, in other words the fermentation of feed during 
the digestive processes of animals, is a source of methane emissions. 
Agricultural soils are a source of emissions of carbon dioxide, methane 
and nitrous oxide; they can also be a sink, storing greenhouse gases. 
Emissions from manure management are approximately two-thirds 
methane and one-third nitrous oxide.

Emissions from enteric fermentation made up more than two fifths (42.5 %) 
of all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the EU in 2019, slightly 
more than the share (39.4 %) for managed agricultural soils; the third 
largest contributor to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions was manure 
management, with a 14.4 % share.

Developments in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
(1990 = 100, based on tonnes of CO2 equivalents, EU, 1990-2019)

Developments compared
 with the total economy

Agriculture total

All sectors (total economy)

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

2014

2018

Developments
 within agriculture

Agricultural soils (managed)

Livestock: enteric fermentation

Livestock: manure management

Source: Eurostat (online data 
code: env_air_gge)

100

90

80

70

1990

100

90

80

70

1990

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

2014

2018

The fall between 1990 and 2019 in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in 
the EU resulted from a decrease for each of the three main greenhouse gas emitting 
agricultural processes. Such emissions fell overall 18.3 % from managed agricultural 
soils, 22.2 % from enteric fermentation and 23.0 % from manure management.

For more and updated 
information on greenhouse 
gas emissions, please refer to 
the Statistics Explained article.

99

Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition    10 Agriculture and food: environment

Waste

Developments of waste generation 
(million tonnes, EU, 2010-2018)

50

40

30

20

10

F&B and tobacco 
processing

Agriculture, 
forestry and ﬁshing

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

Source: Eurostat (online data code: env_wasgen)

Reducing food loss and waste is an integral part of the 
Farm to Fork Strategy action plan.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing as well as the 
processing of food, beverage and tobacco (hereafter 
referred to as F&B and tobacco processing) generated 
57.0 million tonnes of waste in the EU in 2018. Together 
these activities accounted for 2.7 % of all waste from 
productive activities.

EU waste generated by F&B and tobacco processing fell 
by almost one fifth (19.3 % overall) between 2010 and 
2016; however, there was a 3.6 % increase between 
2016 and 2018. The level of waste from agriculture, 
forestry and fishing was relatively stable, other than 
a temporary contraction in 2014. Overall, waste from 
agriculture, forestry and fishing decreased by 1.4 % 
between 2010 and 2018.

Share of Member States in EU waste generation
(%, 2018)

Other (EU)
30.0

ES
30.9

Other (EU)
31.4

Agriculture,
forestry and
ﬁshing (¹)

4.7

SE

DE

4.8

FR
6.5

NL
23.1

F&B and
tobacco
processing

IT
9.1

FR
13.0

DE
8.9

NL
22.5

BE
15.0

Note: EU total excluding 
Finland for agriculture, 
forestry and fishing. F&B 
and tobacco processing: 
due to rounding the total 
does not sum to 100 %

Source: Eurostat (online 
data code: env_wasgen)

Among the EU Member States, Spain (30.9 %) and the Netherlands (23.1 %) were 
responsible for the largest shares of waste from agriculture, forestry and fishing in the EU, 
together accounting for more than half of the EU total. For F&B and tobacco processing, 
the Netherlands was the largest waste producer (22.5 % of the EU total), followed by 
Belgium (15.0 %) and France (13.0 %).

100

  Key figures on the European food chain – 2021 edition Getting in touch with the EU

In person

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of the centre nearest to you at: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en

On the phone or by email

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Key figures on the  
European food chain

Key figures on the European food chain presents a selection of 
indicators concerning the food chain, from primary production 
in agriculture and fisheries through to consumption. Data are 
presented for the European Union (EU), its individual Member 
States and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries.

This publication may be viewed as an introduction to 
agriculture, fisheries and food chain statistics and provides a 
starting point for those who wish to explore the wide range of 
data that are freely available on Eurostat’s website at https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat together with a range of online articles 
in Statistics Explained.

For more information
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

P
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Print:  ISBN 978-92-76-41515-2
ISBN 978-92-76-41514-5
PDF: