Belgium is playing a major role in Europe's growing ice cream sector, in part through consuming the refreshing dessert, but more so through its production and exports.
As Belgians only tend to eat ice cream when the sun is out – a rare occasion in the country – its consumption is only just above the European average. Nevertheless, people living here eat about 140 scoops of ice cream per person per year, roughly equivalent to seven litres of ice cream per person per year.
This is slightly more than the European average of six litres, but much below the average of 13 litres per person consumed by Scandinavians.
However, Belgium does perform well when it comes to producing and exporting the dessert. Last year, it was among the top producers of ice cream in the European Union, according to figures published on Monday by the European statistics office, Eurostat.
More than 198 million litres of ice cream were produced in Belgium in 2022, marking an increase of 20 million litres since 2021 and putting it in fifth place.
In first place is Belgium's neighbour, Germany, which produced a total of 620 million litres of ice cream last year. France followed in second place with 591 million litres. Surprisingly, the EU country most known for its ice cream in the form of gelato, Italy, ranked in third place with 571 million litres.
Sharing the joy
Overall, a total of 3.2 billion litres of ice cream was produced across the bloc in 2022, over 160 million litres more than in 2021, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.
EU countries exported 250 million kg of ice cream to non-EU countries, worth €930 million. On the other hand, imports of ice cream from non-EU countries amounted to 61 million kg, valued at €203 million. "The quantity of extra-EU ice cream imports decreased by 14% in 2022, compared with 2021, while exports dropped by only 2%," Eurostat noted.
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France was the leading exporter last year, accounting for a fifth of the total EU ice cream exports to non-EU countries. When it comes to extra-EU exports, Belgium once again ranked in fifth place. Last year, 23 million kg worth of tubs were sent outside the European Union, representing 9% of European exports.
The Netherlands is the second-largest exporter (42 million kg of ice cream; 17% of total extra-EU exports), followed by Italy (31 million kg; 13%) and Germany (28 million kg; 11%).
Germany again tops the list when it comes to the cheapest producers of ice cream, with an average price of €1.50 per litre in 2022. By contrast, the product is sold for €7 per litre in Austria, followed by Denmark (€4.40 per litre), and Finland (€2.80 per litre). In Belgium, the average is not much cheaper, at €2.40 a litre.
