Spanish household fruit and vegetable consumption falls 2.8% in the first half of 2026

Spanish households bought 3,254 million kilos of fresh fruit, vegetables and potatoes in the first half of 2026, 2.8% less than the 3,347 million kilos recorded in the same period of 2025. The figures come from the Food Consumption Panel of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, processed by the Spanish federation of fruit and vegetable producers and exporters FEPEX and reported by Agronews Castilla y León. The gap equals 93 million kilos removed from the domestic basket in twelve months.

Spending held up far better than volume. Households allocated €7,662 million to these products between January and June, against €7,691 million a year earlier, a decline of only 0.4%. That divergence is the central fact of the half-year: less produce moved through retail, but the value of what was sold barely changed.

Fruit accounts for most of the loss

Fresh fruit remained the largest category by volume, at 1,741 million kilos, down 3.3% from 1,801 million kilos a year earlier. Spending on fruit fell more slowly, from €4,322 million to €4,246 million, a decrease of 1.8%. The average price paid by consumers reached €2.44 per kilo, 1.6% higher than in the first half of 2025.

The contraction was spread across several of the highest-turnover lines rather than concentrated in a single product:

• Strawberries: 97 million kilos, down 9.1%
• Apples: 186 million kilos, down 8.9%
• Oranges: 315 million kilos, down 8.6%
• Mandarins: 129 million kilos, down 7.4%

Several smaller categories moved the other way. Apricot consumption rose 23.3% to more than 20 million kilos, cherries gained 18.8% to 36.5 million kilos and grapes advanced 14.1% to 37.6 million kilos. Plums, watermelon and peaches also grew. Those gains were not large enough to offset the losses in oranges, apples, mandarins and bananas, which carry far more weight in the basket.

Vegetables: smaller volumes, higher bills

Fresh vegetable purchases fell 2.6% to 1,110 million kilos, from 1,140 million kilos in the first half of 2025, meaning around 30 million kilos left the household basket in a year. Spending nonetheless rose 2.9% to €2,946 million, because the average price climbed 5.7% to €2.65 per kilo. Households bought less and paid more, one of the sharpest contrasts in the half-year data.

Tomato remained the leading vegetable by volume at 247 million kilos, although demand slipped 1.7%. Onion consumption fell 2.3% and the lettuce, escarole and endive group lost 3.7%. Cabbages posted the steepest decline among the vegetables cited, at 8.9%. Pepper was the exception, holding practically stable with a 0.6% increase.

Potatoes follow a different pattern

Households consumed 403 million kilos of fresh potato in the period, 1% less than a year earlier. Spending on potatoes dropped far more sharply, by 7.2%, to €470 million. The combination of a small volume decline with a much larger fall in value is the reverse of what happened in vegetables, where reduced quantities came with higher outlays.

A break with the 2025 recovery

The first-half result interrupts the modest rebound recorded last year. Across the whole of 2025, household consumption of fruit and vegetables rose 1% against 2024, to 6,952 million kilos. FEPEX regards that year as an exception within a downward trend observed over recent years.

The federation is calling for reinforced measures to raise the presence of fruit and vegetables in household diets, including promotional campaigns, food education initiatives and greater emphasis on the contribution of fresh produce to a balanced diet.