There are still almost eleven weeks until the first Advent, but gingerbread production in Germany is already in full swing.
Because the sweets from local manufacturers are popular all over the world: 21,600 tons of Christmas cookies were delivered abroad in 2021, as the Federal Statistical Office has calculated.
A good half of the exports went to the three neighboring countries of Poland (4500 tons), Austria (4200 tons) and France (2400 tons).
According to information from Tuesday, there are also buyers in the USA (1800 tons) and Australia (300 tons).
In total, manufacturers in Germany produced a good 84,500 tons of gingerbread worth around 251 million euros last year.
A year earlier it was a good 86,500 tons.
Baking in the summer
In Germany, the first Lebkuchen are already on the supermarket shelves.
According to the statistics, the main production time is the third quarter from July to September - during this time almost a third of the baked goods were produced in 2021, and a further 28 percent in the fourth quarter from October to December.
By the way, Germany also imports a lot of gingerbread from abroad: According to statistics, last year it was 11,200 tons.
The value was 31.6 million euros.