What Does Greece Grow? The EU's Mediterranean Specialist (2025 Data)

The Headline: Small Volume, Huge Podium Count

What does Greece grow? Eurostat's crop statistics (dataset apro_cpsh1, 2016-2025) describe a specialist rather than a bulk producer: about 9.1 million tonnes across the tracked crops in 2025 — barely 1.3% of the EU-27 total — yet 16 top-three finishes in the EU rankings, including one outright title.

Olives lead the volume list: 1.50 million tonnes (1 504.3 thousand tonnes, estimated) in 2025 — 11.6% of EU production and third place behind Spain (7.55 million tonnes / 7 551.4 thousand tonnes) and Italy (2.49 million tonnes / 2 486.8 thousand tonnes). Wheat and spelt follow at 1.15 million tonnes (1 150.4 thousand tonnes), grain maize at 0.95 million tonnes (949.5 thousand tonnes) and tomatoes at 0.72 million tonnes (718.8 thousand tonnes, fifth in the EU).

A caveat matters this year: nearly every Greek 2025 value in Eurostat's release carries the e (estimated) flag, so treat the headline numbers as a strong first read rather than a final account.

Sixteen Podiums: The Mediterranean Specialist

Greece's signature title is cotton: the 229.4 thousand tonnes of cotton fibre recorded for 2024 (estimated) equal 66.9% of the EU total — Spain is a distant second at 112.3 thousand tonnes (32.7%) and Bulgaria a rounding error at 1.4 thousand tonnes. Cotton is, in volume terms, a Greek crop grown on Greek irrigated plains.

The kiwi is the boom story of the decade: 310.8 thousand tonnes (estimated) in 2025 took 33.0% of EU output and clear second place behind Italy (512.0 thousand tonnes), with production up 40.2% net since 2016. Two further second places came in walnuts (49.2 thousand tonnes, 24.2% of the EU total, just behind Romania's 50.9) and satsumas (9.5 thousand tonnes, 8.9%).

Below the top two, Greece collects bronze across the Mediterranean shelf: watermelons (509.2 thousand tonnes, 17.0%), peaches (384.3 thousand tonnes, 18.1%), strawberries (135.7 thousand tonnes, 11.4%, plus second place for strawberries under glass at 133.9 thousand tonnes), cherries (123.5 thousand tonnes, 15.7%), yellow lemons (109.7 thousand tonnes, 7.3%), nectarines (163.6 thousand tonnes, 13.7%), rice (189.4 thousand tonnes, 7.1%), chestnuts (35.5 thousand tonnes), avocados (11.1 thousand tonnes) and sweet lupins (11.6 thousand tonnes).

Volume Watch: Olive Growth vs Cereal Retreat

The decade splits Greece into two economies. On the growing side, olives advanced 22.4% net — from 1.23 million tonnes (1 229.3 thousand tonnes) in 2016 to 1.50 million tonnes (1 504.3 thousand tonnes) in 2025, a 2.27% CAGR — while kiwis climbed 40.2%, strawberries more than doubled (+122.3% to 135.7 thousand tonnes by 2024), lemons rose 55.1%, walnuts 75.3% and avocados 110.4%.

On the shrinking side sit the field crops: wheat and spelt fell 30.9% (to 1 150.4 thousand tonnes), grain maize 37.2% (to 949.5 thousand tonnes), tomatoes 30.8% (to 718.8 thousand tonnes) and grapes 31.9% (to 699.6 thousand tonnes). Peaches — a signature Greek export crop — dropped 39.2% to 384.3 thousand tonnes but still took third place in the EU.

Watermelons, the picnic staple, eased 13.2% across their 2015-2024 window to 509.2 thousand tonnes — enough for third place behind Spain and Italy.

The Yield-per-Hectare Race

Greece's yields reflect dry summers and extensive orchards rather than intensive input farming. Its 2025 wheat and spelt yield of 2.77 tonnes per hectare ranked 24th of the 26 countries with data — far below Ireland (9.92 t/ha), the Netherlands (9.14 t/ha) and Belgium (9.08 t/ha), and well under the EU's big-four breadbaskets.

Potato yields averaged 25.0 t/ha in 2025, 17th place, against 48.87 t/ha in Denmark, 46.11 t/ha in the Netherlands and 45.96 t/ha in Germany.

Stability, not scale, is the Greek strong suit in several series: apples varied with a coefficient of variation (CV) of just 6.0% across 2016-2025 and barley with 7.4% — both Very stable — while kiwis (11.3%) and rice (15.6%) are Moderately stable, and watermelons (20.3%) and peaches (22.4%) are Volatile.

Land Use, Stability and What Buyers Should Know

Land data sharpen the specialist story. Greece farms 837.2 thousand hectares of olives (estimated) — 17.0% of the EU's olive area, second only to Spain — and 25.5 thousand hectares of peaches, 22.1% of the EU total. Kiwi area expanded 55.5% to 13.9 thousand hectares (29.9% of the EU's kiwi plantings). The retreat is visible in the fields: olive grove area actually fell 13.6% since 2016 even as production rose, wheat area shrank 22.8% and grain maize 25.6%.

For buyers of Mediterranean produce, Greek supply lines are shorter on volume but long on pedigree. The dependable series are apples (CV 6.0%), barley (7.4%) and kiwis (11.3%); the volatile ones are watermelons (20.3%), peaches (22.4%) and strawberries (29.5%). And because most Greek 2025 values carry Eurostat's e (estimated) flag — alongside the usual b/d/p annotations — re-check the release before locking contracts.

Frequently Asked Questions