Italian ice-cream output rises 10% as extra-EU exports approach French lead

Italy outpaces EU production growth

Italian ice-cream production increased by 10% in 2025 to 549 million litres, according to Eurostat data published in August 2026 and reported by QuiFinanza. The country recorded the strongest growth among the European Union’s leading producers and added about 50 million litres in one year.

The EU as a whole produced 3.44 billion litres in 2025, up from 3.38 billion litres in 2024. That represented growth of 1.9%, making Italy’s expansion more than five times faster than the bloc-wide rate. None of the countries covered recorded a decline in output, although growth varied considerably across the main production markets.

Germany retains the production lead

Germany remained the EU’s largest ice-cream producer, but its output rose by only 0.2%. The production gap between Germany and Italy stood at 59 million litres. Italy’s faster expansion therefore narrowed the distance to the market leader, although the German industry retained first place in absolute volume.

France also remained ahead of Italy in production. The gap between the two countries fell to 24 million litres after French output grew by 4%, a pace below Italy’s 10% increase. These figures place Italy among the EU’s leading manufacturers while showing that further gains would be required to overtake France and Germany by volume.

Extra-EU exports close in on France

Italy’s strongest progress came in trade with markets outside the EU. The country exported 55.2 million kilograms of ice cream to non-EU destinations in 2025, equal to 19% of the bloc’s extra-EU exports. That compared with 42.6 million kilograms in 2024, an increase of more than 12 million kilograms, or approximately 30%.

France retained the EU export lead with 59.1 million kilograms, representing 20% of the total. Its advantage over Italy was less than 4 million kilograms, leaving the two suppliers separated by only one percentage point of market share. The rapid Italian increase suggests that the contest for the leading position is becoming tighter, though the available figures cover only shipments to destinations outside the bloc and do not describe trade between EU member states.

EU suppliers expand their global presence

Combined EU exports to non-EU markets reached 289.8 million kilograms in 2025. This was about 26 million kilograms more than in 2024, equivalent to growth of roughly 10%. Italy therefore expanded its shipments at almost three times the overall EU rate and accounted for close to one-fifth of the bloc’s external sales by weight.

For Italian producers and processors, the simultaneous increase in output and exports indicates that additional production was accompanied by stronger demand beyond the EU. France remains the immediate benchmark in export volume, while Germany continues to set the production benchmark. The next competitive test will be whether Italy can sustain export growth while closing the remaining production gaps without creating excess capacity.