Hemp in Europe: 37,830 ha in 2025, 61% of it in France

Eurostat follows hemp as an industrial crop in its apro_cpsh1 database, updated on 10 September 2026. It publishes values in thousands of hectares and thousands of tonnes, which we have converted. No Union output is reported for 2020.

The curve rises unevenly. Area grows until 2019, drops to a low in 2023, then climbs past the 2019 level. Output depends on each year's yields as much as on area: 2021 still holds the record, on fewer hectares than 2024.

Most of the increase comes from France, whose area grew from 12,090 ha in 2015 to 24,600 ha in 2024, then eased to 22,930 ha in 2025.

The table gives Eurostat areas for the 2025 harvest, the most recent year available, with each share calculated on the EU-27 total.

Eurostat marks the 2025 values for Lithuania and Poland as estimates and Spain's as provisional. The eleven countries listed total 34,480 ha; the other member states share the remaining 3,350 ha.

The leading countries keep their places while their paths diverge. From 2019 to 2025, France added 8,050 ha and Belgium went from 100 to 880 ha. Over the same years Austria fell from 2,010 to 690 ha, and Italy from 910 to 510 ha.

A different series appears on the hemp page of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture. There, area dedicated to fibre rises from 20,540 ha in 2015 to 33,020 ha in 2022 (+60%), and output from 97,130 t to 179,020 t (+84.3%). France produces more than 60% of EU output, followed by Germany (17%) and the Netherlands (5%).

Eurostat currently shows 20,850 ha in 2015 and 32,260 ha in 2022, with 99,130 t and 177,590 t. Two things explain the gap. Agricultural series are revised each year, and the Commission page relies on an older extraction. Its wording, area "dedicated to fibre", may also cover a different scope. We therefore give each set with its own source and keep them apart.

Eurostat does not allow the German 17% share to be recalculated. It publishes no German output for 2015 to 2024, only a first estimate of 33,000 t for 2025. That figure belongs to the Commission and is quoted as such.

The industry adds a third gap. A document from InterChanvre, the French hemp trade body, puts European hemp area at 53,624 ha in 2023, 7.86% less than a year earlier, and derives a French share of more than 37.3%. For the same year Eurostat gives 29,030 ha for the EU-27 and 19,610 ha for France, which makes 68%. Each calculation is correct on its own European scope. A share quoted without its denominator tells you nothing.

Hemp fields in these statistics grow straw and seed. The FranceAgriMer sector sheet, published in January 2024, describes an open-field crop. It yields 6 to 8 t/ha of straw, with a fibre content close to 25%, and around 1 t/ha of grain.

The harvested plant yields four products:

The sheet mentions the flower on one line only, as a pharmaceutical outlet, with no area or tonnage. No European series cited here separates out the flowering top. The Commission adds a frequently repeated agronomic figure: one hectare of hemp stores 9 to 15 tonnes of CO2 over five months of growth. Our history of hemp in France and Europe traces the crop back to the age of sail.

FranceAgriMer ranks France third among the world's producers of industrial hemp, after China and Canada, and first in Europe. Its sheet lists:

• 19,500 ha in 2022, grown by more than 1,500 farmers, five times the 1990 area (4,000 ha);
• 126,750 t of straw decorticated in the 2022/2023 season;
• 7 processing plants for hemp, all located in the northern half of the country;
• exports rising from 415 t in 2021/2022 to 21,460 t in 2022/2023, with 279 t imported.

InterChanvre's 2023 document gives 19,500 ha for 2023 and forecasts 23,000 ha for 2024. It counts 1,700 farmers, 6 processing plants, 300 employees and more than 141,000 t of decorticated straw a year, on an area that tripled in ten years. The crop is grown without pesticides or irrigation. Eurostat has since recorded 24,600 ha for 2024, so the forecast erred on the low side.

The Commission lists a few verifiable rules set by the Common Agricultural Policy. The variety grown must contain less than 0.3% THC and come from certified seed listed in the EU common catalogue of agricultural plant species. Imported raw hemp (customs code 5302 10) must not exceed 0.3% THC, and every hemp import requires a licence under Article 189 of Regulation (EU) 1308/2013. France, Poland and Romania pay coupled support to hemp farmers.

These rules apply to the plant in the field and say nothing about the product sold in a shop. For that product, the French decree of 30 December 2021 caps Δ⁹-THC in the finished product at 0.30%. Our article on the legal THC level details that threshold, and our guide to the EU variety catalogue explains what a listing guarantees.

A batch's compliance shows on its certificate of analysis. Our approach is described on our laboratory page, and our guide to French origin and labels covers provenance. Each page of the CBD flowers category states the origin of the flower. These products are for adults only and are not foodstuffs. The FAQ gathers the most common compliance questions.