Brussels, 24/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - European exports of food products grew 2% in value between August and December 2014 (compared to the same period one year earlier), in spite of the ban set in place by Russia on agricultural products from the EU. Drops in sales of cheeses, butter and fruit and vegetables have been offset by other productions.
Following the brutal drop in the month of August 2014, exports went on to hit a new high in October. Exports to Russia dropped sharply, from €5 to €3 billion (-38%), as a result of a complete embargo on exports in the banned categories of products, and rose slightly (+0.5%) for products not covered by this ban.
The EU has managed to offset its export losses to Russia by increasing its exports to most of its other main markets. Considerable increases in value were achieved between August and December 2014 to the United States (+€693 million, or +10%, including €+185 million in the month of December alone), China, which is now the second-largest destination for European agri-food products (+€377 million, +13%, including €167 million in December), Switzerland (+€82 million, +3%) and other key Asian markets such as Hong Kong (+€391 million, +23%) and South Korea (+€242 million, +31%).
Concerning the banned products, considerable losses in value were observed for the following products: - cheese (-€289 million, or -19%); - fruit and vegetables (-€322 million, or -12%); - and butter (-€9 million, or -4%, but with a sharp increase in December 2014 compared to 2013). For the meat sector, the overall figures on these five months paint a less worrying picture than for the other sectors, the Commission states: exports of pork are stable compared to 2013, even rising in December, and exports of beef and poultry grew by 10% and 3% respectively.
“Losses on the Russian market were offset by the expansion to other destinations: Asia for pork meat, turkey and Asia for beef meat and Africa for poultry meat”, the Commission notes. Exports were particularly healthy for bakery products, pasta and infant food (+€558 million, +14%), chocolate, confectionery and ice cream (+222 million euros, +10%) pet food (+135 million euros, +11%) and gluten (+€98 million, +10%).
In response to the concerns expressed by Copa-Cogeca (agricultural organisations and cooperatives of the EU) regarding the fruit and vegetables sector, Jerzy Plewa, the European Commission's director general for agriculture, sent out a reassuring message: “The situation is not so negative (…). Quite the reverse, we have seen recovery in prices for tomatoes, cauliflowers, oranges, lemons and kiwifruit. The prices of mandarins, peppers, cucumbers and table grapes have remained stable”. No further emergency measures are therefore being considered by the Commission at the moment. (Lionel Changeur)