Stunted growth in the garden sector

The total volume of the garden market in the European Union amounted to € 88.1 bn in 2015 (at end-consumer prices) and thus grew by one per cent. This means that, on average, every EU citizen spent € 175 either: directly for the garden, patio, balcony and flowers for the home or indirectly on public and commercial green areas. In the ten years from 2005 to 2015, the EU garden market grew, on average by one percent per year. This is shown in the current data from the market research institute IFH, Cologne (Germany).
The largest share of revenue in the garden market, namely 54 per cent, is accounted for by plants; if one adds the bio-chemical gardening supplies sector (plant protection, fertilizer, soils/turf), it's 62 per cent. In absolute terms, this amounts to a sales volume of € 54.3 bn, broken down into 39 per cent for indoor flowers and plants, 47 per cent for outdoor plants and 14 per cent for bio-chemical supplies. A turnover of € 33.8 bn is generated with garden hardware. The most important segment here is garden and balcony furniture with € 15.9 bn (including barbecues), followed by gardening materials (including wood and water in the garden) with € 10.6 bn. Last year, € 7.3 bn was spent on gardening equipment and machines.
The individual product categories developed in very different ways in 2015. In comparison to plants, which lost 0.2 per cent, the hardware products generally did better. The growth drivers were the product categories for bio-chemical supplies as well as garden furniture and equipment with an increase of between 2.7 and 3.7 per cent.
Germany is the most important single market in Europe with a sales revenue of € 18.1 bn. Thereby, almost 21 per cent of European consumer spending for gardening products falls to the most densely populated country in the EU. France follows in second place (€ 14.7 bn), followed by Italy (€ 12.2 bn) and Great Britain (€9.4 bn).
From all the densely populated countries with strong sales revenues last year, only Spain managed to achieve a noteworthy increase in revenue with garden products. The growth rates in Germany, Great Britain and France were under the EU average of one per cent. Despite a positive development in the gardening hardware products category, Italy recorded a slight minus of 0.4 per cent in 2015.