Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables in Spanish households fell by 6 per cent in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period of last year, totalling 3.973m tonnes, according to the latest figures from the ministry of agriculture. Overall spending on fresh produce remained stable, dipping 1 per cent to €5.48m.
Exporter federation expressed its concern at the fall, noting that consumption was down in every month of the first semester, while spending had fallen in every month except June.
The fall comes in spite of numerous government initiatives designed to raise consumption levels, such as the €15.2m Fruit for Schools scheme, which is now entering its seventh year.
Analysis of the figures shows that vegetable consumption in the first six months of the year stood at 1.324m tonnes, a 7 per cent decrease on the year-earlier period. Peppers registered the biggest fall (-11.5 per cent), while tomatoes and onions declined by 3.4 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. Demand for lettuce increased by 2 per cent to 103,000 tonnes.
Potato consumption fell by 8 per cent in volume terms to 479,000 tonnes, while spending was down 13.5 per cent at €303m.
Fruit consumption in the home decreased by 4.4 per cent to 2.17m tonnes. This was due mainly to declining banana consumption (-5 per cent) and tangerines (-4.5 per cent). The figures also showed a fall in the consumption of stonefruit, whose season was just getting underway when the data was collected, with peaches falling by 22 per cent and apricots by 4 per cent. Pears were also down 6 per cent, while apple consumption rose by 2 per cent.
Overall, spending on fruits households has stabilized at 2.963 million euros, the same amount as in the first half of last year.
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