Increase in fruit and vegetable consumption between January and July 2020

According to the economic outlook from FranceAgriMer on September 23rd, French households have purchased more fruits and vegetables during the first seven months of 2020. This increase is mainly due to the confinement context related to Covid19, with the closure of out-of-home catering.

In terms of volumes, for 100 households, fruit purchases reached 5.04 tonnes and vegetable purchases reached 5.17 tonnes. This represents an increase of +3% for fruits and +6% for vegetables compared to the average from 2017/2019 (avg. 2017/2019).

Fruits: increased purchases of bananas, apples and oranges

The amount of fruits purchased experienced a significant increase in April (+21.6% vs avg. 2017/2019), then a decrease in June (-3.1%) and a slight decrease in July (-0.5%), linked to the moderate supply of stone fruits.

In the top 3 of the most purchased fruits for 100 households, bananas, apples and oranges recorded a strong increase, with respectively +13.5%, +4.3% and +2.1% compared to 2019. Note that April 2020 was particularly beneficial for apples (+30.6% vs 2019) and bananas (+18.7% vs 2019).

Regarding strawberries, three factors explain the decrease in purchases (-8.6% vs 2019): limitations on pleasure purchases at the beginning of confinement, then insufficient supply due to border closures and the early and therefore competitive arrival of summer fruits on the market.

Vegetables:

As for vegetables, there is a similar trend, with a significant increase in purchases in April (+ 27% compared to the average 2017/2019) and May (+ 11.6% compared to the average 2017/2019), followed by a decrease from June. For some vegetables, the increase is obvious compared to 2019: + 23.5% for onions, + 11.6% for carrots, + 11.3% for zucchini, + 8% for salads and + 2.2% for tomatoes, which remain at the top of the list of volumes purchased.

It is worth noting that purchases of fresh potatoes also increased during the period from January to July 2020: + 13.7% compared to the average 2017/2019.

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Source: FranceAgriMer