Belgian consumers purchased more carrots than ever before and bought more of their fresh vegetables through discount retailers last year, according to new research published by German analyst AMI.
Continuing a recent trend that has seen the discount channel corner more than 20 per cent of the Belgian fresh vegetable market compared with 16.1 per cent in 2005, sales in the country were more or less stable overall last year at around 40kg per capita.
However, in 2012 the average amount spent per person increased by approximately 8 per cent year-on-year to €90.
For the first time, carrots overtook tomatoes - classified here as vegetables - to become the most popular fresh vegetable among Belgians, with AMI's data showing a 21 per cent rise in volume sales to 6.3kg per capita.
Fresh tomato consumption meanwhile was up 3 per cent on the previous year at 6.1kg per capita, while in third place per-capita onion consumption was 4.5kg.
Overall, fresh produce sales through the Belgian retail sector accounted for 47.6 per cent of the market, while discounters had a market share of just 5.1 per cent.
