Data from the European Commission, released recently, shows that the amount of pesticides sold in the EU in 2022 increased by 2.7% when compared with 2020.

The data on pesticide sales was released by Eurostat and shows that 355,175t of pesticides were sold in 2021, compared with 346,000t in 2020.

These pesticide sales were broken down into different categories. Fungicides and bactericides had the highest volume of sales at 44% of the total.

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Pesticide sales breakdown as a percentage of total by category:

  • Fungicides and bactericides - 44%.
  • Herbicides, haulm destructors and moss killers - 34%.
  • Insecticides and acaricides (control ticks and mites) - 14%.

    • Biggest pesticide users

    Spain’s pesticide sales accounted for 21% of the total sales in the EU. France accounted for 20% of total sales, while Germany and Italy both accounted for 14% of pesticide sales.

    These countries produce a lot of agricultural produce within the EU.

    Increase and decrease in sales

    Looking at how pesticide sales compare with 10 years ago, some countries have reduced use, but others have increased their use.

    Eleven of 16 countries with available data recorded a decrease in pesticide sales in the 10 years. The Czech Republic (-36%), Denmark (-35%), Portugal (-32%), Italy (-29%) and Romania (-27%) reported some of the biggest decreases.

    However, some countries increased their use significantly. An increase in use of 85% was reported in Latvia and an increase of 68% was reported from Austria over the 10-year period.

    Ireland decreased its use of pesticides by approximately 16.3% from 2011 to 2021.