A large majority (73.1 %) of the EU's harvested production of potatoes in 2020 came from just five Member States; these were Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland. These five countries accounted for a slightly smaller majority (66.8 % in 2020) of the area planted to potatoes in the EU, with Romania accounting for an additional 10.0%.
Potatoes were cultivated on 1.7 million hectares (ha) in the EU-27 in 2020. This corresponded to an estimated 1.7 % of all arable land in the EU. This share was much higher in the Netherlands (16.3 % of all arable land), Belgium (11.3 %) and in Malta (7.5 %).
About three-quarters (76.8 %) of the EU's cultivated area of potatoes in 2020 was concentrated in just six Member States: these were Poland (a provisional 21.6 %), Germany (16.5 %), France (12.9 %), Romania (10.0 %), the Netherlands (9.9 %) and Belgium (a provisional 5.9 %).
The area of potatoes in the EU has been in long-term decline. The cultivated area almost halved between 2000 and 2020 with, among the principal producer countries, particularly sharp reductions in Poland (-71.3 %) and Romania (-41.4 %). Nevertheless, there were some exceptions (see Figure 1), with increases in the area of potatoes planted in both France (particularly since 2015), Belgium (particularly since 2009) and Denmark (also since 2015).
55 million tonnes of potatoes harvested across the EU in 2020, about one-quarter (-27.4 %) less than in 2000
The harvested production of potatoes in the EU was 55.3 million tonnes in 2020. Germany was the largest producer of potatoes in the EU in 2020 (at 11.7 million tonnes, 21.2 % of the EU total), ahead of Poland (a provisional 16.4 %), France (15.7 %) and the Netherlands (12.7 %).
With a downward trend in the area of potatoes cultivated, the harvested production in the EU has also been in decline, albeit with annual fluctuations that were also influenced by weather conditions. Between 2000 and 2020, the harvested production of potatoes in the EU declined by a little over one-quarter (-27.4 %), with a particularly strong decline in Poland.
Source: ec.europa.eu