"Hans-Christoph Behr, AMI: "Trends are organic, local and convenience"
"Germany is price sensitive but Europe's largest import market"
Tomatoes are Germany's main import product
The area of pumpkin has increased greatly
"The total vegetable production in Germany was between 3,500 and 4,000 tonnes in 2013. What is striking is that the area of pumpkin has increased the most over the last ten years, an increase of almost 11% from 2004. This is followed by sweetcorn, with a increase of 3.9% in ten years. Other vegetables that show an increase are lettuce, asparagus, onions, radish, leek and broccoli. Other vegetables showed a decrease in area. As far as open ground cultivation is concerned, asparagus have the largest area in Germany. Other crops are cabbage and onions.
Netherlands is the main importing country
The main vegetables that Germany imports are tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Germany is an important importer in Europe. The Netherlands is Germany's most important importing country. Germany imported 1170,000 tonnes of vegetables from the Netherlands in 2013. Spain comes second. Germany imported 1010,000 tonnes of vegetables from here in 2013. Germany's third import country is Italy, with a volume of 290,000 tonnes in 2013. Other important importing countries are Belgium and France. Germany is importing increasing amounts from other EU countries like Egypt and Morocco. The country imports more vegetables than it produces. As far as import is concerned it is striking that courgette has increased most over the last ten years. It increased by 5.3%. Carrots grew by 2.8% and peppers by 2.5%."
The top five vegetables in various European countries
Vegetable consumption
As far as consumption is concerned, tomatoes, carrots and onions are the top three in Germany. But in spending per vegetable, asparagus is also in the top three. Hans-Christoph said that the vegetable spending in Germany is changing. "Consumer behaviour is changing. Germans bought more of certain products in recent years. An increase can be seen in the purchases of bags of lettuce, fennel, basil, mushrooms and rhubarb." He believes this is mainly due to a younger generation that prefers 'different' vegetables and convenience. An increase can also be seen in tomato specialities, aubergines and courgettes."
Lower fruit and vegetable prices
Compared to other countries, Germany has a lot of discounters. It's a real 'discount country'. According to AMI there is no longer an increase in the number of discounters. But most consumers buy their fruit and vegetables from discounters, not from 'regular' supermarkets. 51.2% of the fresh vegetables are bought from a discounter. This means that the average fruit and vegetable prices in Germany are low.
Behr can see three trends in Germany at the moment: organic vegetables, local vegetables and convenience. The share of organic is a lot bigger in Germany than in France, but there is more variety in France. Over half of the share of organic vegetables in Germany are carrots.
Conclusions
Germany is very price sensitive, but is also the largest import market in Europe. Consumer needs are changing to organic, convenience, local and 'forgotten vegetables'. Products with added value.
Retailers are looking for products with added value to define themselves from the competition.
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