France is the leading avocado consumer country in Europe

Avocado consumption in Europe increased by 7% compared to last year, according to the latest estimated figures for the volume traded.
● France is the largest avocado consumer in Europe, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.
● Peru is the leading supplier of avocados in Europe, followed by Colombia, Chile, Israel and Spain.

According to the latest official figures on the production and consumption of avocados published by CIRAD, avocados are still popular on our plates. Globally, a total of 2,461,000 tons of avocados were exported by producing countries from June 2021 to May 2022. And if the United States continues to lead consumers of avocados by importing 43% of avocados produced in the world, Europe comes in second place with 34% of imports.

This year, the total consumption of avocados (estimated volume sold) in Europe increased by about 55,000 tons, or 7%. For several years now, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been the main consumers of avocados on the continent. This year again, France leads the European podium, consuming an estimated amount of 157,657 tons of avocados between June 2021 and May 2022. An increase of 8% compared to the previous year. In total value, Spain ranks second with an estimated marketed volume of 123,211 tons. However, according to CIRAD experts, this number is probably greatly overestimated because a large part of the avocados imported into Spain are re-exported to other European countries. Finally, avocados also continue to be very popular across the Rhine, with a slight increase of 3% in their consumption compared to last year.

Source: CIRAD

Scandinavians eat the most avocados per person
While France and Germany are the top consumers of avocados by volume, the calculation of per capita avocado consumption suggests that the Scandinavians are actually the biggest avocado devotees. In fact, even though Nordic countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway import fewer avocados than their French, German and British counterparts, they have smaller populations, putting their per capita consumption at the top of the ranking.
In fact, Danes eat the most avocados, with an impressive per capita consumption of 3 kg per year, while Norwegians consume an average of 2.8 kg of avocados per year and Swedes 1.9 kg. . By comparison, per capita consumption in France is 2.3 kg.

Source: CIRAD

More than a third of avocados come from Peru
In Europe, we welcome our lawyers from more than 15 different countries, spread across four continents. However, the leading supplier of avocados in Europe is far away in Peru, which supplies 35% of the avocados we consume. This is three times higher than Colombia, which ranks second, followed by Chile. Outside of Latin America, Israel and Spain had bumper harvests last year, placing them fourth and fifth respectively.

European imports in tonnes: Peru 304,352 tonnes, Colombia 86,011 tonnes, Chile 83,272 tonnes, Israel 79,526 tonnes and Spain 62,996 tonnes.

For Zac Bard, president of the World Avocado Organization: “The popularity of the avocado continues to grow for many reasons. Packed with nutrients and with many health benefits, they can be included in a meal or snack, for breakfast, lunch or dinner – cooked or raw, savory or sweet! Avocado becomes an important product, perfectly fitting into a balanced diet. And this is even more true because of the growing trend toward vegetarian and vegan diets. Avocados are gaining popularity in many other countries, such as Italy, where consumption has increased by 37% compared to last year, as well as in Eastern European countries such as Poland, Slovenia and Croatia, people is also starting to eat more avocados. . »