Ice cream production falls in EU and prices rise 30 cents per liter. Germany, France, and Italy the three ice cream masters

Brussels – More than an ice cream in Rome or une glace on Parisian boulevards, ein eiscreme in Berlin. Germany was the main producer of ice cream in the EU in 2023, producing 612 million liter, followed by France (568 million) and Italy (527 million). Total production in the 27 EU countries was 1.4 percent lower than in 2022, dropping from 3.3 to 3.2 billion liters.

According to Eurostat data, ice cream production declined in most EU countries. In Italy, it fell from 571 million liters in 2022 to 527 in 2023. The biggest exception was Spain, fourth in the EU, which increased its production by 80 million liters in one year to 402 million liters in 2023.

In addition to being the largest producer of ice cream, Germany produced the lowest-priced ice cream on average, at 1.8 euros per liter. The average price in 2023 was 2.2 euros per liter in France and 2.6 euros per liter in Italy. Compared to a year ago, ice cream in the EU costs 30 cents more per liter, for an average of 2.27 euros per liter.

The most expensive ice cream was from Austria, with an average price of 7.7 euros per liter, followed by Hungary at 4.8 euros per liter and Greece at 3.7 euros per liter. After Germany, the cheapest ice cream was produced in Lithuania, at an average price of 1.9 euros per liter, followed by the Czech Republic at 2.0 euros per liter and Sweden at 2.1 euros per liter.

However, the cones and cups sold to non-EU countries drove growth. In 2023, France exported 52 million kilos of ice cream, or one-fifth of the total, followed by the Netherlands (35 million kilos), Germany (29 million kilos), and Italy, which exported 28 million kilos of ice cream outside the EU in 2023, 11 percent of the total from member countries.

Exports bucked the production trend, increasing by 5 percent over 2022, for a value of 1.04 billion euros. Conversely, extra-EU ice cream imports decreased by 8 percent compared to last year.