Fruit and vegetables, prices on the rise and purchases down by 8%

Listen to the audio version of the article

The prices of fruit and vegetables are increasing and fewer and fewer of them enter the diet of Italians, judging by consumption. According to the Market Observatory of Cso Italy on the basis of the surveys carried out by GfK Italia, each Italian, regardless of age, consumed 4kg less fruit and vegetables in the first three months of the year compared to 2019 and almost 2 kg less on 2022. The trend in domestic consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is confirmed to be negative also in the first quarter of this year, with purchases by Italian families stopped at 1.27 million tonnes, equal to a decrease on the same period of 2022 ‘8%.

The effect of rising prices

There are various underlying reasons. Surely the economic difficulties of families, accentuated by the inflationary pressure, as well as the problems of production, on which extreme climatic events have a strong impact, have had their weight. In the case of fruit and vegetables, the average purchase price on a quarterly basis marks +8% in 2023, compared to the first quarter of 2022. Extending the comparison to five years, the differential increases up to +21%. In the quarter, fruit was purchased for a total volume of 644,000 tonnes, a considerably lower quantity than in 2022 (-10%), which had also marked a sharp decline. For the first time the fruit component falls below 700 thousand tons.

Shopping for fruit and vegetables

A negative record is achieved by fruit expenditure, which fell by 2% with a total of 1.32 billion euro, despite the increase in the average purchase price, which goes from 1.90 €/kg of first quarter 2022 at 2.06 €/kg. The volume of vegetables purchased in the first quarter of 2023 is close to the quantities recorded for fruit. With 635 thousand tons, vegetables suffer a -6% on the amount for 2022 and a -13% over five years. The total expenditure on vegetables in the period is around 1.5 billion euros, while the average price marks an increase, rising to 2.06€/kg, +8% on the first quarter of 2022. In the first ten species of fruit purchased in of volume in these first three months of the year, only pears and kiwis have a positive sign.