Between 2011 and 2020, the sale of pesticides in the European Union remained relatively stable, with the total volume sold annually fluctuating by around 6% at the level of 350,000 tonnes, the EU’s statistical office (Eurostat) said on Monday 2 May, drawing conclusions from statistics it had published at the end of April on sales in 2020.
These statistics refer to available data from 16 EU Member States, which accounted for 67% of total EU pesticide sales in 2020. Two years ago, just under 346,000 tonnes, a combined decrease of 7% compared to 2011 (251,868 tonnes), were sold.
But this figure says nothing about the wide disparities between Member States.
Germany, Spain, France and Italy, which are also the main agricultural producers in the EU, recorded the largest volumes sold in most of the major groups, Eurostat points out.
While sales fell by 38% in the Czech Republic (the biggest drop) and by 20% in Portugal, Denmark, Romania, Belgium and Ireland, they jumped by 77% in Latvia and 61% in Austria, and also increased in Germany and France.
On Tuesday, the NGO Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) denounced these poor results. Recalling that the 2009 directive calls for a sharp reduction in the use of pesticides, it estimated, via Twitter, that “thirteen years”, of action had been lost.
The proposal for an EU regulation on the use of pesticides to address the shortcomings of this directive is still expected on 22 June, according to the European Commission’s draft timetable (see EUROPE 12916/18, 12884/5).
See the Eurostat statistics: https://aeur.eu/f/1hb (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)