Households spend an average of €20 per month on fresh or chilled fruit. Berries are the second-largest category by value, just behind pome and stone fruit.
In 2023, households in Saxony-Anhalt, a region in east-central Germany whose capital is Magdeburg, spent an average of €20 per month on fresh or fresh-cut fruit. This amount represented 6% of their total food expenditure.
Data released by the Statistical Office of Saxony-Anhalt show the particularly significant role played by berries in household purchases.
Berries account for more than €5 per household per month
The largest share of fruit expenditure, at 29%, went to pome and stone fruit, a category that includes products such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries and plums.
Berries accounted for 26% of total expenditure. Applying this percentage to the monthly average of €20 gives an estimated value of approximately €5.20 per household per month, equivalent to more than €62 per year.
This was the second-largest share among the categories considered, very close to that of pome and stone fruit. The figure confirms the economic importance berries have achieved within fresh fruit purchases, even though their consumption volumes are generally lower than those of more traditional products such as apples, pears or bananas.
Comparison with tropical fruit
Dates, figs and tropical fruit—a category that also includes bananas—accounted for 18% of expenditure. In indicative terms, this corresponds to approximately €3.60 per household per month.
The share allocated to berries was therefore 8 percentage points higher than that attributed to tropical fruit, dates and figs combined.
More spent on fruit than on chocolate
The study also provides a comparison with other food categories. In 2023, households in Saxony-Anhalt spent an average of €14 per month on chocolate, cocoa and cocoa-based food products.
Household expenditure on ice cream and sorbets amounted to approximately €4 per month. Overall, spending on fresh or fresh-cut fruit was therefore 43% higher than spending on chocolate and cocoa-based products.
A survey of 1,600 households
The findings come from the food, beverages and tobacco products section of the 2023 Income and Consumption Survey, based on information provided voluntarily by approximately 1,600 households in Saxony-Anhalt.
Although the data refer to a single German region, they provide a significant indication of the value positioning of berries: the category accounts for more than a quarter of household expenditure on fresh fruit, approaching the economic weight of products that have traditionally had a more established presence in household consumption.
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Source: Fruchthandel
