The EU is the second world producer of fruit and vegetables, accounting for 9% of total tonnage in
2003-05, a long way behind China (37%). The EU has suffered a certain amount of erosion due to slow
growth (6% between 1994 and 2004, compared to 124% in China and 42% in India). With around 50
million tonnes, the 5 Mediterranean countries of the EU (Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal)
represent 72% of the total production of fruit and vegetables of the 15 member states. The southern and
eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC), with a total of 30 million tonnes, have experienced rapid
growth (+34% in the past 10 years compared to +9% in the EU-15 and the 5 Mediterranean countries).
In 2002, the European fruit and vegetable processing industry (EU-25) counted a little more than
8,000 companies with a total turnover of approx. 48 billion euros and 264,000 employees (Eurostat,
2005). In 2001, the main actors were Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom, each accounting
for roughly 15% of the production of the EU-25, with Spain in 5th position accounting for 10%. Greece
was in 9th position (3%) and Portugal 16th (1%). Between the end of the 1990s and 2002, Spain and Italy
experienced an increase in turnover of about 50%, i.e. twice that of Portugal and France.
Tabl. 1: An estimation of the production value of fresh and processed fruit & vegetable in EU-25, 2004
|
Production value (M.€) | |||
|
____________Country____________ |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Total |
|
EU (25)______________________ |
51 800 |
50 100 |
101 900 |
|
Italy____________________________________ |
11 080 |
7 800 |
18 880 |
|
France________________________ |
6 510 |
7 100 |
13 610 |
|
Spain___________________________ |
12 350 |
5 400 |
17 750 |
|
Greece (estimation) |
3 320 |
1 500 |
4 820 |
|
Portugal_________________________ |
2 020 |
500 |
2 520 |
|
EU-Mediterranean countries_____ |
35 280 |
22 300 |
57 580 |
|
MC/EU_________________ |
______68% |
45% |
57% |
|
Source : our estimation from Eurostat, 2005_________________________________ | |||
In 2004, the fresh and processed fruit and vegetable sector as a whole in the EU-15 generated more than
100 billion € in turnover (of which 57% for the Mediterranean member states) and provided jobs for
almost one million people (2 to 3 times more if we include related industries and services in the
calculation).
The fruit and vegetable marketing channels have become much more concentrated in the past 30 years,
the large-volume distribution sector for industrial products and, to a lesser extent, for fresh produce
becoming predominant. Companies producing fresh and processed fruit and vegetables are therefore
constantly encouraged to lower their costs and adapt to the desired quality, quantity and management
methods (Arfini et al, 2004)2.
The main regulatory instrument of the supply chain in the EU is the common market organisation
(CMO) for fruit and vegetables3, the principle of which is to act on supply ex ante by encouraging the
creation of producer groups, their modernisation and a greater effort in favour of product quality and
environmental protection. The results of the CMO are disappointing: in the EU-15 in 2003, the average
rate of organisation into PO (producer organisations) remained below 40%, albeit with much higher rates
in northern Europe (more than 70% in the Netherlands and Belgium) than in the south (less than 10% in
Greece and Portugal (Montigaud et al, 2002). The fruit and vegetable CMO, like all other CMO in the
2 A complete supply chain analysis have to include the segment of agribusiness (input industry for agriculture). In
this case (regional level), it was not possible, due to the lake of informations.
3 European regulation 2200/96 for fresh fruit and vegetable, 2201/96 for processed fruit and vegetable, 2002/96 for
citrus. It exists a strong gap within the EAGGF (€ 1,5 billion in 2003 for fresh and processed fruit and vegetable, i.e.
3,9% of the total budget) and the economic weight of the sector (17% of the total agricultural final revenue).