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Agriculture and rural development
News article17 December 2019Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

EU agri-food trade surplus hits record levels in September 2019

September 2019 saw the EU record its largest ever monthly surplus in agri-food trade, coming to a total value of €3.7 billion. The surplus was recorded following a rise in both the monthly export and import values of agri-food products. The EU’s agri-food exports rose to €13.06 billion in September 2019, an increase of 18% compared to the previous year, while the value of imports rose by 6% to €9.32 billion. These are amongst the principal findings of the monthly trade report for September 2019, published by the European Commission.

The highest increases in monthly export values were recorded for China (a rise of €509 million), the USA (an increase of €305 million), and Japan (up by €162 million). However, there were falls in the EU’s exports to Hong Kong (down by €37 million), Algeria (a reduction of €19 million) and Egypt (down €14 million).

There was an increase in the value of the EU’s agri-food imports from Ukraine (up by €108 million), South Africa (rising by €72 million), and Chile (a rise of €48 million). Conversely, there was a decline in the value of imports from the USA (down by €106 million), Russia (a decrease of €17 million), and Ghana (a fall of €15 million).

A number of product categories experienced a rise in export values, such as pork meat (up €269 million), spirits and liqueurs (a jump of €260 million), wheat (up by €149 million), and wine (rising by €149 million). However, there was a decrease in the value of exports for non-edible products (down €43 million), sugar (falling by €30 million), fatty acids and waxes (a reduction of €18 million), and vegetable oils (excluding palm and olive oil) (down by €16 million).

Increases in imports were recorded for tropical fruit (up €128 million), oilseeds (other than soyabeans) (a rise of €109 million), and vegetables (an increase of €54 million). Import values fell for a number of products, including cereals (other than wheat and rice) (down by €55 million), wheat (a drop of €46 million), raw tobacco (a decline of €30 million).

EU28 : Export to Extra-EU of Agri-Food products upto September 2019
Source: EUROSTAT - COMEXT

More information

17 DECEMBER 2019
Monitoring EU agri-food trade: development until September 2019
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Trade and international policy analysis

Previous monthly data on EU agri-food imports and exports.

Details

Publication date
17 December 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development