I am pleased to present this first edition of Key figures on the European food chain. This new publication responds to interest in the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy, which is an integral part of the new European Green Deal that sets out to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Farm to Fork Strategy aims to establish a sustainable food system in the European Union that is fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly. Its goals are to ensure that the food chain has a neutral or positive environmental impact, that everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious, sustainable food, and that the most sustainable food also becomes the most affordable.
While some products are sold raw (for example milk, fruit and vegetables) or processed (such as wine and olive oil) directly from farms, most pass through a much more complex food chain. Primary agricultural and fishing products that have been sold by producers or imported, may be graded and packaged, processed, transported and wholesaled, before being retailed in supermarkets, grocery shops, specialist food retailers or markets — or served directly to consumers as food and beverages in restaurants, bars, cafés, and other food and beverage outlets.
Key figures on the European food chain starts with an overview of agriculture and fisheries, focusing on production. It then turns to the processing, distribution and consumption of food and beverages. It finishes with a chapter concerning environmental issues related to various stages of the food chain. Data are presented for the European Union (EU), its individual Member States and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries, drawing from the rich collection of data that are available at Eurostat. The publication aims to provide intuitive visualisations and innovative data presentations supported by concise texts.
For most datasets, statistics are available until 2019 or 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have impacted on almost every aspect of life in the EU (and further afield) since March 2020. The pandemic itself and the accompanying restrictions have impacted on the supply of and demand for many goods and services produced and traded within the EU’s business economy. Although it is too soon to evaluate the full impact of the crisis, the asymmetric impact of the crisis during 2020 on some stages of the food chain can be clearly seen: the supply and demand for food and beverages in retailing was relatively stable, while there was a large contraction in turnover for restaurants, bars and cafés. Eurostat’s most up-to-date statistics showing a broad range of economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 crisis can be found online at: https:// ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/covid-19/overview.
