Consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables stabilises in 2022

After a very sharp decline in 2020 and 2021, we ate plenty in (company) restaurants again in 2022. As a result, consumption of fruit and vegetables at home fell by three per cent in 2022. In contrast, consumption in hotels, restaurants and catering grew by 58 per cent.

Overall, this gives the same result for fruit and vegetable consumption in 2022 as in 2021. There is a difference between vegetables and fruit: the consumption of vegetables grew by 3 per cent that of fruit actually decreased by 3 per cent. This is according to information from GroentenFruit Huis based on figures from GfK and Foodstep. This brought an end to the annual growth of the past 3 years. The good news is that consumption is still well above pre-corona (2019) levels. 

Meal kits and meal box undiminished in popularity 

Consumers like to be helped to choose their meals. Sales of meal kits continue to grow unabated. Compared to 2021, this product group grew by 20 per cent. Meal box buyers also embraced convenience, ordering 16 per cent more meal boxes online in 2022. 

Online fruit and vegetables 

The share of online sales in total fruit and vegetable sales remains stable, with 7 per cent of fruit and vegetable sales coming from online sales. In 2022, slightly more households ordered fruit and vegetables online. 

Difference in consumption by income class 

Households from all income classes bought less fruit and vegetables. From this we can conclude that price does play a role when buying fruit and vegetables. The planned VAT reduction for fruit and vegetables to 0 per cent may change this.

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