New Eurostat data confirms that pesticide sales in Ireland have dropped by almost a quarter overall from 2011 to 2020. Specifically, herbicide, fungicide, and insecticide producers are selling less. Slug pellets are the only category doing well.
Insecticide sales have dropped the most – by almost 80%. Herbicide and fungicide producers saw turnover fall by 20% and 29% respectively. The decade saw an overall sales volume decrease in the pesticide category from 2,909t to 3,609t.
However, more than 12t of molluscicides, or slug pellets, were sold in 2020 compared with 4t in 2011.
This Irish trend represents the sixth-largest drop in sales in the EU. Pesticide sales have dropped, in general, with 16 member states showing a decline of just under 8% for the period.
The Czech Republic recorded the biggest drop in sales (38%), while Latvia’s sales jumped close to 80%. However, the latter is a reflection of very low volumes sold in absolute terms, according to Eurostat.
Since 2011, sales of pesticides in the EU have been around 350,000t annually. Of the 346,000t of products sold in 2020, fungicides and bactericides sold the most (43%). Herbicides, moss killers and haulm destructors accounted for 35%, and insecticides and acaricides for 14%.