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In many areas of Europe, the temperature is high. This makes ice cream, a product with a synonym for summer, perhaps the most delicious way of cooling.
Fortunately, the EU has a lot of ice cream. Last year, the production of ice cream in the block increased by 2% to 3.3 billion liters, from 3.2 billion liters in 2023, according to recent data published by Eurostat.
As for the country that produces the largest amount of ice cream, the elements may be a surprise. For many, Italy, known for her ice cream, may be the first country in which they think about this frozen pleasure.
Nevertheless, Germany is the one who was again crowned by the King of Hunting, producing 607 million liters in 2024. France and Italy are at the top with 501 million liters and 492 million liters of ice cream, respectively.
There is a significant gap between the first three manufacturers and two countries that complement the five best. Spain took fourth place with 378 million liters produced in 2024, and Poland ended in fifth place, with 298 million liters of ice cream.
Smaller manufacturers contribute to growth
These five countries may have led to the largest amount of ice cream in absolute quantities, but did not lead to an increase by 2%registered between 2023 and 2024.
Poland was the only country in the first five, which saw how its production was growing compared to 2023. She produced 29% more ice cream in 2024. Meanwhile, France recorded the greatest decrease (12%) among large manufacturers.
The decline was slightly lower in Italy (-7%) and Spain (-6%). The leading manufacturer, Germany, saw that its production decreased by 1%.
Nevertheless, the production of ice cream has increased in larger number of EU countries, which has decreased, which led to a general increase in production.
The data show that along with Poland, the smallest manufacturers were the main growth levers here. These include Belgium, which led to an increase in its production by 35%, as well as Bulgaria (+19%) and the Czech Republic (+15%).
France is the leader of the EU in the field of global ice cream exports
The amount of ice cream extracted to countries that are not the EU increased by 1% from 2023 (up to 265.3 million). Meanwhile, import from countries outside the block increased significantly by a quarter, by 13.6 million pounds.
The rating differs, taking into account the sale of ice cream in the EU countries.
France was the largest exporter of ice cream in the EU, exporting 55.9 million pounds of ice cream in 2024.
Italy followed (42.6 million kg) and the Netherlands (31.9 million kg). Although this is the most important manufacturer of ice cream in the EU, Germany exports only 28.2 million pounds of this product outside the block. This shows that he directs his sales more in a single market and its domestic consumers.