Pesticide being sprayed on crops.

There was a sharp downturn in the quantity of pesticides sold in the EU in 2022, in large part as prices surged. About 322 000 tonnes of pesticides were sold in 2022, down 10% on the quantity sold in 2021.

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

There are a range of pesticides sold in the EU, the main categories being 'fungicides and bactericides' (43% of sales volumes in 2022), ‘herbicides, haulm destructors and moss killers’ (35%) and ‘insecticides and acaricides’ (14%).

Among EU countries, France (21%), Spain (18%), Germany (15%) and Italy (14%) registered the highest share of pesticides sold in 2022. These 4 countries are the EU’s main agricultural producers.

Between 2011 and 2022, there were a number of EU countries that recorded steep declines in their sales of pesticides. The sharpest declines were recorded in Italy (-37%), Portugal (-36%) and Greece (-33%).

Pesticide sales in the EU, 2011-2022. Bar chart. For more information click dataset below.

Source dataset: aei_fm_salpest09

For more information

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'.
  • The analysis by country takes into account the countries with available data for total sales for year 2011.

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