In the 2015/2016 campaign (from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016), the European Union (EU) spent a record amount of money on lettuce, according to data from the Euroestacom statistical service (ICEX- Eurostat), with code 0705 of the Integrated Tariff Integrated of the European Communities (TARIC).
The total volume of lettuce purchased by the EU in the last campaign was 1,919.78 million kilos worth 2.217,43 million Euro.
The investment the EU has made in this campaign on the purchase of lettuce has been the highest on record, although the volume has been slightly reduced compared to the previous season.
The average price paid by European consumers for lettuce during the campaign has been the highest in the decade, reaching 1.155 Euro per kilo; 6.25 percent higher than in the previous season. Of the five largest suppliers of this vegetable to the EU, the country that has sold it for the most expensive price was Italy, with an average of 1.522 Euro per kilo.
Suppliers
The EU's main lettuce supplier by far has been Spain, with a total of 1,021.6 million kilos (53.2% of the total) worth 957.78 million Euro and an average price of 0.938 Euro per kilo. Spain has sold more lettuce on the EU market than Italy and the Netherlands combined, but at a cheaper price.
The second place is for Italy, which supplied EU consumers with 237.12 million kilos of lettuce worth 360.89 million Euro, with an average price of 1.522 Euro per kilo.
In third place is the Netherlands, which has sold 209.53 million kilos of lettuce to EU countries worth 277.86 million Euro. The average price paid to Dutch suppliers has stood at 1.326 Euro per kilo.
Fourth in the ranking is France, with a volume of 141.46 million kilos, 209.29 million Euro and an average price of 1.479 Euro per kilo.
Germany ranks fifth, having sold 112.79 million kilos in the EU worth 155.24 million Euro, with an average price of 1.376 Euro per kilo.
