Fresh fruit and vegetables took the biggest share of the country’s household consumption in 2021

Generic shopping fresh produce Adobe

New data in Spain has revealed that fresh fruit and vegetables led the way in domestic consumption last year, making up 26.7 per cent of the volume and 17.8 per cent of the value of customers’ shopping baskets.

The Food Consumption Report, presented by the minister of agriculture, fisheries and food Luis Planas, showed that the consumption of fruit and vegetables in Spanish households actually decreased compared with 2020.

This was attributed to the end of the upward affect on fresh produce sales of Covid, although the figures were still ahead of those seen in 2019.

Fruits represented 14.4 per cent of the shopping basket in volume, and 9.7 per cent of the value.

Vegetables accounted for 9.1 per cent of the volume and 7 per cent of the value, while fresh potatoes made up 3.2 per cent of the volume purchased by households and 1.1 per cent of the value.

Overall consumption fell year-on-year to 7.88bn kg in 2021, down 8.7 per cent, with a value of €13.3bn, or 8.8 per cent less.

Fruit consumption in Spain last year stood at 4.25bn kg, 7.8 per cent less than in 2020, at a value of €7.25bn euros (down 8 per cent).

The consumption of vegetables totalled 2.68bn kg, a drop of 9 per cent on 2020, with a value of €5.2bn (down 9 per cent).

”The total lockdown from March to June 2020 and the partial lockdowns in the following months of the year boosted the consumption of fruit and vegetables in homes to very high levels, which have not been maintained in 2021,” Fepex noted.