Fruit imports in France rose 7% last year to reach €4.7 billion with steady increases for the three leading commodities - bananas, oranges and avocados. 

This represents growth of more than a quarter since 2014 and is edging toward import levels in the U.K. which were roughly around the €5 billion mark last year. 

Avocados were new in third place in France's fruit import rankings after overtaking mandarins, which saw a slight drop of 1% down to €372 million.

According to International Trade Center (ITC) Trade Map statistics, France's banana imports led the way with a 27% jump in imports to €505 million, followed by oranges (+6%; €404 million), avocados (+16%; €395 million), lemons (-8%; €227 million) and table grapes (+11%; €212 million).

In other crops, peaches and nectarine imports were down 9% at €181 million, melon imports rose 3% to €169 million, strawberries dropped 3% to €159 million and kiwifruit saw a big rise of 27% to €126 million.

Taking nuts into the equation, France's fruit and nut imports were up 6% at €5.1 billion but both major categories suffered declines with almond imports down 12% at €240 million and hazelnuts dropping 11% to €163 million.

In terms of suppliers, Spain kept its top spot with a 31% share with €1.6 billion, which while down slightly on 2016 was still well above the levels seen in years prior.

Second-largest provider Italy registered a 10% increase to €346 million and was followed by Turkey (-12%; €214 million), Morocco (+28%; €212 million), the U.S. (-12%; €203 million), Belgium (+7%; €158 million), South Africa (+12%; €156 million), Côte d'Ivoire (+15%; €153 million), Israel (+25%; €148 million) and Peru (+7%; €135 million).

The biggest percentage increases from countries of origin over the past five years have come from Israel (+61%), Morocco (+54%) and Côte d'Ivoire (+54%).

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