EU ice cream production breaks records
Shamblen Studios, Unsplash
According to Eurostat, the European Union will produce 3.3 billion litres of ice cream in 2024 - 2% more than a year earlier. This was possible despite declining production in some key countries: France reduced output by 12%, Italy by 7%, Spain by 6% and Germany by 1%. Only Poland, one of the 'top 5', showed strong growth of 29%, bringing volumes to 298 million litres.
Among other countries, Belgium (+35%), Bulgaria (+19%) and the Czech Republic (+15%) recorded significant increases in ice cream output. Germany retained its lead with 607 million litres, followed by France (501 million) and Italy (492 million).
The EU exported 265.3 million kilogrammes of ice cream - 1% more than in 2023. However, imports rose by an impressive 24% to 69.3 million kilogrammes. France remains the top exporter, sending 55.9 million kilos abroad (21% of all non-EU exports), ahead of Italy (42.6 million), the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta do not provide production data for economic reasons. Data from Ireland and Slovenia for 2023-2024 are classified and for Hungary and Slovakia are found to be unreliable.
The overall increase in production in the EU, however, is explained by the fact that more countries saw increases, which may indicate a consistently high demand for the product even in conditions of economic instability.
