For many people, both young and old, ice cream is a favourite treat on a warm summer day - and it seems demand is growing.

In 2024, the EU produced 3.3 billion litres of ice cream, which represents a 2% increase on the previous year (3.2 billion litres).

According to Eurostat, Germany remained the top producer of ice cream in the EU, making 607 million litres in 2024.

This was followed by France (501 million litres) and Italy (492 million litres).

The list of main producers also included Spain (378 million litres) and Poland (298 million litres).

The data shows that of the top five countries, only Poland registered a surge in production, increasing by 29%.

Eurostat noted that France actually recorded a decline of 12%, Italy (-7%), Spain (-6%) and Germany saw a slight decrease of -1%.

However, production increased in more EU countries than it decreased, resulting in an overall rise in production.

The data shows that other significant increases were registered in Belgium (+35%), Bulgaria (+19%), and Czechia (+15%).

In 2024, EU countries exported 265.3 million kilogrammes of ice cream to non-EU countries and imported 69.3 million kilogrammes.

France was the largest ice cream exporter in the EU, exporting 55.9 million kilogrammes in 2024 to non-EU countries, accounting for 21% of total exports.

Italy was in second position (42.6 million kg of ice cream), followed by The Netherlands (31.9 million kg), Germany (28.2 million kg), and Belgium (27 million kg).

Ireland was the ninth-highest EU exporter of ice cream in 2024. The total overall production figure for Ireland last year (based on product sold) was not available.

Three member states - Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta, are not included in these statistics due to their economic size.