Around 292,000 tonnes of pesticides were sold in the EU in 2023, marking a 9 per cent decline compared to 2022 and an 18 per cent drop compared to 2021.
The figures come from data on pesticide sale released recently by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency.
In terms of the types of pesticides sold in the EU, the main categories in 2023 were ‘fungicides and bactericides’ (39% of sales volumes), ‘herbicides, haulm destructors and moss killers’ (36%) and ‘insecticides and acaricides’ (17%).
France (23%), Spain (18%), Germany and Italy (each with 14%) accounted for the highest shares of pesticides sales volumes in the EU in 2023. The 4 countries are also the EU’s largest agricultural producers.
Between 2011 and 2023, there were stark contrasts in the developments of pesticide sales within the EU. For the 21 countries for which data are available, there were lower sales volumes in 16 EU countries, with the 4 sharpest being observed in Portugal and Italy (each down -44%), followed by Ireland and Slovenia (each down -38%). By contrast, there were higher sales volumes in 5 EU countries, the sharpest rises being observed in Latvia (+55%), Austria (+52%) and Lithuania (+11%).
Statistics Explained article on agri-environmental indicator: consumption of pesticidess – Eurostat
Thematic section on agriculture
