E-commerce (market intelligence): Research basis for e-food

Data compiled in PDF format for data research on the topic “Standardized reusable fruit & vegetable containers – The next intralogistics step for car-based e-logistics and e-food”.

Germany is a net importer of fruit and vegetables, with a self-sufficiency rate of around 22 percent for fruit and about 36 percent for vegetables. Fruit, vegetables, and potatoes represent almost 17 percent of German farmers' sales revenue. German agriculture generated approximately €3.7 billion in revenue from vegetables and about €838 million from fruit.

Fruit and Vegetable Market – PDFs

Supermarkets – PDFs

Customer demographics of different markets – PDFs

Netto Marken-Discount – PDF

E-commerce – PDFs

Apples are the most important fruit product in German commercial fruit production. Key growing regions for (tree) fruit in Germany include the Altes Land in Lower Saxony, the Lake Constance region in Baden-Württemberg, and the Voreifel and Vorgebirge hills in North Rhine-Westphalia/Rhineland-Palatinate. Vegetables are grown by slightly fewer than 6,000 farms in Germany, both outdoors and by almost 1,700 farms under glass, with a total cultivated area of ​​nearly 130,000 hectares. The most important produce grown outdoors, based on harvest volume, is carrots, onions, and white cabbage. Asparagus, a popular vegetable, ranks fifth but has the largest cultivation area in the country.

Fruits and vegetables are of above-average importance to organic farming in Germany; their share of organically cultivated land is larger than that of other products, and vegetables are the third-largest revenue generator in the organic product sector, after organic milk and eggs. In addition to production, the processing of fruits and vegetables is an important economic sector and is considered a sub-sector of the food industry. It also includes the production of fruit and vegetable juices. Its approximately 250 companies employ more than 30,000 people and generate around eleven billion euros in revenue.

The entire market for fresh fruit and vegetables is estimated by GfK at nearly €15 billion. In Germany, consumers buy most of their fruit and vegetables at discount supermarkets. Almost half of all sales in this food segment are generated through this retail channel. The best-selling vegetable is the tomato, with an average purchase of about 11 kilograms per year. When it comes to fruit, apples are the most popular among German consumers. Although per capita consumption of this popular pome fruit has fluctuated in recent years, each German consumer still eats an average of around 21 kilograms of apples per year. Banana consumption has also fluctuated in recent years, while strawberry consumption has remained relatively constant.