The Dutch may have only recently discovered Halloween, but the pumpkin export market is on the up, new figures from national statistics office CBS show.

Even though less land is devoted to growing pumpkins than a year ago, exports hit 21 million kilos in the first five months of this year, up from 18.7 million kilos in 2017.

Some 350 companies are currently growing pumpkins in the Netherlands, and 754 hectares of arable land is devoted to the vegetable.

The Netherlands may be exporting more pumpkins, but imports are also up. Between January and the end of May, imports reached 37.7 million kilos, up a marginal 700,000 kilos on 2017.