Consumers around the world are eating more vegetables as part of a wider trend of health-conscious living, but also because people are increasingly adopting vegetarian or vegan diets. Supply is responding to this growing demand and the
reached more than 1.17 billion metric tons in 2022, up from around 720 million metric tons two decades earlier.
, the bulk of the vegetable-producing industry is concentrated in Asia. However, Europe still contributes around seven percent of the global vegetable production. In 2022, around 80.7 million metric tons of vegetables were produced in Europe.
Mediterranean production and exports
Due to favorable weather conditions in the Mediterranean, Spain is one of the leading producers of fruit and vegetables in Europe. In 2022, peppers, lettuce, and cucumbers topped the ranking of the
most-exported vegetable products from Spain. Due to its notable position in the European vegetable industry, Spain exports a significant amount of vegetables to the rest of Europe. In 2022, the
Andalusia region of Spain exported the largest volume of fruit and vegetables abroad. Just over four million metric tons were exported in that year from the region. Valencia and Murcia ranked in second and third place.
Vegetable consumption in Europe
Increasing vegetable consumption has been one of the most dominant
food-related behavioral trends in Europe in recent years. As a survey revealed, approximately 59 percent of respondents in Europe reported eating more vegetables than they used to. This comes as vegetarian and vegan diets become more widespread, with consumers substituting animal meat with plant-based alternatives and integrating more vegetables into their diets as a result. According to a recent survey, respondents in Switzerland were the most likely to be
following a vegetarian diet among their European neighbors. The United Kingdom followed in second place. Since
younger consumers were the most likely to be following some form of meat-free diet in the EU in 2023, it could be expected that vegetable consumption further increases as such values and lifestyles are passed on to future generations.
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