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Agriculture and rural development
News article8 June 2023BrusselsDirectorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

Latest agri-food trade report shows rebound of EU exports in February 2023

EU agri-food trade

After January’s good start, the EU agri-food trade further increased its surplus by 33% month-to-month to reach €5.4 billion. Exports reached €18.6 billion in value terms, which is 10% higher than February 2022. At the same time, EU imports were at €13.3 billion, as they declined for the third month in a row. These are the main findings of the latest monthly agri-food trade report published today by the European Commission.

Exports

In February 2023, EU agri-food exports increased compared to January and reached a value of €18.6 billion. Almost all EU agri-food categories have had a dynamic start of the year (for January and February combined) in value terms compared to last year. As a result, EU agri-food exports were +€1.7 billion (+10%) higher in February than they were at the same time last year.

The top export products driving the increase were cereal preparations, preparation of fruit and nuts and dairy products. Moreover, the EU increased cereal exports to North and sub-Saharan Africa in the first two months of 2023 by an additional 768 000 tonnes compared to the same time in 2022.  This is testament to the EU’s continuous support  for global food security, especially in low and middle-income countries.

The top three destinations for EU agri-food exports—the United Kingdom, the United States, and China—remained the same as in January.

Imports

In February 2023, EU agri-food import values have continued their declining trend since last November and realised EUR 13.3 billion.

The most imported goods continued to be oilseed and protein crops, with a total quantity of 7.4 million tonnes of oilseeds and protein crops imported in January and February 2023, in comparison to 6.8 million tonnes over the same period in 2022. Fruit and nuts imports also increased due to quantity increase, and overtook the second place from coffee, tea, cocoa, and spices in value terms.

In February 2023, Ukraine was the top source of EU imports, followed by Brazil and the United Kingdom.

More insights as well as detailed tables are available below in the latest edition of the monthly EU agri-food trade report.

7 JUNE 2023
Monitoring EU agri-food trade: developments in February 2023
English
(1.54 MB - PDF)
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Details

Publication date
8 June 2023
Author
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Location
Brussels