Germans lead in ice cream production, they can sell the delicacy cheaply. Outside of Slovakia, it is the most expensive

Germans dominate production

Eurostat clarified that Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta were exempted from providing data on ice cream production due to their economic size.

Among the 24 euro bloc member states, Germany was the main producer of ice cream in 2023, producing 612 million litres, followed by France (568 million) and Italy (527 million).

Where is the most expensive and where is the cheapest?

As well as being the largest producer of ice cream, Germany produced the lowest priced ice cream last year at an average price of €1.8 per litre.

France reported an average price of €2.2 per litre of ice cream, while the average price in Italy was €2.6 per litre.

The most expensive ice cream was produced in Austria with an average price of 7.7 euros per litre, followed by Hungary with 4.8 euros and Greece with 3.7 euros per litre.

Apart from Germany, the cheapest ice cream was produced in Lithuania with an average price of EUR 1.9 per litre, followed by the Czech Republic with EUR 2 and Sweden with EUR 2.1 per litre.

How much was imported and how much was exported?

In 2023, EU countries exported 261 million kilograms (kg) of ice cream to countries outside the Union, with a total value of €1.04 billion.

On the other hand, imports of ice cream from non-EU countries amounted to 56 million kg worth €217 million.

Exports increased by 5% (249 million kg) compared to 2022, while non-EU imports decreased by 8% (61 million kg) in 2023.

France exported 52 million kg of ice cream to non-EU countries last year, accounting for 20% of EU ice cream exports.

This makes it the largest exporter of ice cream among EU countries, ahead of the Netherlands (35 million kg of ice cream, 14% of exports), Germany (29 million kg, 11%), Italy (28 million kg, 11%) and Ireland (24 million kg, 9%).