6.4% more retail sales in Spain by 2025

Maité Arrizabalaga, commercial and marketing director of AECOC and Ignacio Biedma, Development Manager of NIQ (Nielsen) discussed at the last AECOC Fruit and Vegetables congress on current trends in consumption and retail distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables in Spain. FMCG generates 20% of Spain's GDP, while the country has some 25,000 self-service establishments. "There are now modern food stores everywhere in Spain," confirms Ignacio Biedman.

4.4% growth in retail turnover by 2024

Retail turnover in FMCG rose by an average of 4.4% in 2024 and by 6.3% from January to April 2025. Sales volume rose 2% in 2024, while some inflation persisted. Consumption increases in 2025 vary by category: +8.4% in volume for eggs between February and April 2025, +4.6% for meat, +3.2% for fish. Beverages are the only food category with sales down -1.9% through April. Retail sales of fruit and vegetables in Spain reached €15.3 billion in 2024, representing some 6 million tons consumed. They grew by 6.4% in value and 2.2% in volume in 2024, 11.2% in value and 5.3% in volume this year.

General improvement in retail sales

The average value of the shopping basket rose by 2.2% in 2024, 3.1% between January and April 2025. This confirms that food consumption in general is recovering. "Thus we see that this sector is growing above the average of FMCG products" declares Ignacio. "We also believe that its growth will continue to be sustained over time." Consumption of potatoes in the first four months of 2025 rose by

Potatoes: +6.2%, fresh vegetables +5.5%, fresh fruit +13.4%, bananas +5.6%, grapes an astonishing +39.2%, coinciding with the off-season. "There is no doubt that grape consumption patterns are changing, there is also a strong upturn in demand with seasonal fruits." Apples are the only fruit with a -1.2% drop in demand this year.

Sustained growth over time?

According to NIQ the general trends that can influence the fruit and vegetable market. Since 2008 there has been the financial crisis, covid, inflation, geopolitical instability, and more recently, the recent hurricanes and blackouts. In the long term, the aging of the population is seen as a positive trend, encouraging the consumption of healthy products. "Old will be Gold" confirms Ignacio, considering that 30% of the population will be over 65. They are looking to preferably consume products that provide energy, metabolic support, weight loss support and support the immune system. The foreign population will also increase to represent a third of consumers. The Spanish population could reach 55 million by 2050. 2 out of 3 households will consist of 1 or 2 members, which will have an impact on the shopping basket.

72% in hyper-supermarkets

72% of fresh fruit and vegetable sales are made in hypermarkets and supermarkets, 27% in specialty or traditional stores, 1% online. Hypermarkets have decreased their sales in favor of supermarkets, consumers no longer want to spend more than an hour shopping. TikTok Shop is the novelty in the online segment, present in Spain since November 2024. In just 6 months it has reached 2.2% of the online market share. TikTok seems to follow the same progression curve as in the UK where it has been present since 2022. Ignacio mentions the example of @fruterotiktokero Raul Cárdaba, with already more than 300,000 followers promoting his fruit shop in Madrid with this channel.

Carrefour and El Corte Ingles confirm trends

The national category managers of Carrefour Spain and El Corte Ingles, Alexandra Riera and Álvaro de Cabo, invited to discuss in the panel, confirm the current growth of consumption above 5%. With the drop in inflation, value trends are recovering, such as the search for healthy eating. The drop in consumption of processed products also helps in selling products with some added value, as long as they are not overpriced. "We observe both increased demand for seasonal products and products consumed all year round such as berries and avocado" confirms Alexandra Riera.

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