The European Union (EU) has purchased a record volume of aubergines in the 2015/2016 marketing year (1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016), according to data from the Euroestacom (ICEX-Eurostat) statistical service.
The average price paid by European consumers for imported aubergines during the campaign stood at € 1.028 per kilo, down 1.38% compared to the previous season and 10.76% lower than in the 2013/2014 campaign. Of the EU's five largest suppliers of this vegetable, the country that sold it for the most expensive price was Belgium, with an average of 1.259 Euro per kilo.
Spain has sold directly more than half of the aubergines consumed by EU citizens, although in reality that percentage is higher, as from the 93.55 million kilos sold by the Netherlands in the EU, more than 13 million were re-exports from Spain, almost entirely from Almeria. The total volume of aubergines purchased by the EU in the last campaign reached 375.51 million kilos worth 386.08 million Euro, which results in an average price of 1.028 Euro per kilo.
The total amount of aubergines that Spain has supplied to the EU has reached 202.79 million kilos, the largest volume in history, with a value of 185.45 million Euro. The average price of Spanish aubergines sold to the EU has been 0.914 Euro per kilo, 32.6 percent cheaper than those sold by the Netherlands. The second in terms of volume is precisely the Netherlands, which has sold 93.55 million kilos of aubergines to the EU for a total of 113.37 million Euro, with an average price of 1.212 Euro per kilo.
In third place, but farther away, is Germany, which has sold 18.18 million kilos of aubergines to the EU for a total of 20.18 million Euro. The average price of German aubergines sold to the EU has been 1.11 Euro per kilo. In fourth place is Belgium, with a volume of 11.93 million kilos, 15.01 million Euro and an average price of 1.259 Euro per kilo. Italy ranks fifth after having sold 8.9 million kilos worth 9.99 million Euro, with an average price of 1.123 Euro per kilo.
