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Sales of pesticides in the EU down another 9% in 2023

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In 2023, approximately 292,000 tonnes of pesticides were sold in the EU, the lowest level since the start of the data series in 2011. This marked a 9% decline compared to 2022 and an 18% drop compared to 2021.

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%).

This information comes from data on pesticide sales published by Eurostat recently. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on agri-environmental indicator: consumption of pesticides.

Click to enlarge

Source dataset: aei_fm_salpest09

In 2023, France (23%), Spain (18%), Germany and Italy (each with 14%) accounted for the highest shares of pesticides sales volumes in the EU. These 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%). 

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Methodological notes

For the purpose of this article, the term ‘pesticides’ refers to plant protection products and covers the following categories: ‘fungicides and bactericides’, ‘herbicides, haulm destructors and moss killers’, ‘insecticides and acaricides’, ‘molluscicides’, ‘plant growth regulators’ and ‘other plant protection products’.

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