The year 2019 proved to be a record year for EU agri-food trade, according to the latest report published by the European Commission on Friday 27 March.
The export value of agri-food products came to a total of €151.2 billion, rising by 10% from December 2018, while imports accounted for €119.3 billion (an increase of 2.5% compared to 2018), bringing the overall value of trade for the year to €270.5 billion.
The trade surplus grew by €10.9 billion from 2018 (an increase of 52%) to reach a record level of €31.9 billion.
The EU agri-food trade report for 2019 also shows that the main destinations for EU agri-food products in 2019 were the United States (€24.3 billion), China (€15.3 billion), Switzerland (€8.5 billion), Japan (€7.6 billion) and Russia (€7.2 billion). Together, these five countries received over 40% of the EU's agri-food exports.
In 2019, the EU expanded its market for agri-food products in China (+4.2 billion euros), the United States (+2.07 billion) and Japan (+1.01 billion euros). On the other hand, the value of exports to Hong Kong (-€400 million), Libya (-€170 million) and Algeria (-€120 million) fell.
Five countries provided 35% of the EU’s agri-food imports in 2019: The United States (€11.8 billion), Brazil (€11.6 billion), Ukraine (€7.4 billion), China (€6.1 billion) and Argentina (€5 billion).
Compared to 2018, the value of imports increased from Ukraine (€1.76 billion), Canada (€451 million), China (€418 million), Peru (€334 million) and Serbia (€279 million). On the other hand, this value decreased in the following cases: United States (-€290 million), Indonesia (-€290 million), Brazil (-€288 million), Australia (-€286 million) and New Zealand (-€190 million).
In 2019, the export values of several products grew, including: pork meat (+€2.36 billion), wheat (+€1.75 billion) and spirits and liqueurs (+€1.13 billion).
The biggest drops in export values were recorded for beet and cane sugar (-€523 million), olive oil (-€125 million) and raw hides and skins (-€114 million).
A number of products experienced a rise in their import values over the course of 2019. The highest increases were for tropical fruit (+€752 million), oilseeds other than soyabeans (+€747 million) and vegetable oils other than palm and olive oil (+€ 660 million).
On the other hand, import values declined for palm and palm kernel oil (down €612 million), citrus fruit (down €282 million) and olive oil (a decrease of €215 million). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)