As of: March 27, 2024, 2:46 p.m
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Freshly washed asparagus lies on a conveyor belt: More than 100,000 tons of asparagus were harvested in Germany in 2023.
© Christian Charisius / dpa
The asparagus season is just around the corner: the vegetables end up on many families' plates as a traditional meal.
It is therefore very pleasing that asparagus is available relatively cheaply this year.
Munich - When the first asparagus spears come to the table in these weeks, consumers will initially have to expect increased prices.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the sought-after poles are more expensive at the start of the harvest in March or April than towards the end of the season in June.
Last year, prices in April were around 34.6 percent higher than in the following month of May, as the office reported on Tuesday.
Compared to the same month last year, the price of asparagus fell by 9.9 percent.
Germany: Asparagus occupies the most cultivated area
In 2023, the area cultivated for asparagus in Germany was reduced by a good four percent to 20,400 hectares, with the organically farmed area expanding against the trend by three percent to 1,700 hectares.
The domestic harvest volume rose from a low level by 1.4 percent to almost 112,000 tons.
The largest quantities were stung in Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
There were also 19,300 tons of imported vegetables.
The most important countries of origin were Greece (28 percent) and Spain (27 percent).
“One reason for the comparatively low asparagus harvest is likely to be the decline in the area under cultivation,” explained the statistics office.
At 20,400 hectares, this was as low as it was last in 2014. Nevertheless, asparagus was still the vegetable with the largest cultivated area last year, followed by onions and carrots.
According to statisticians, the domestic harvest volume exceeded imports six times - and most of the imports also fall during the harvest season in Germany: 86 percent of the 19,300 tons of imported asparagus were imported from March to June in 2023.
The most important countries of origin were Greece (28 percent), Spain (27 percent) and Italy (18 percent), as well as Mexico and Peru.