Positive Trade Balance for EU Agri-food Products After Record Value in Monthly Exports
According to the latest figures published by the European Commission, the monthly value of EU agri-food exports in March 2017 reached a value of almost €12.7 billion, which is €1.31 billion (+11.3%) higher than in March 2016. This is the highest monthly export value seen over the last 5 years.
Highest increases in monthly export values (March 2017 compared to March 2016) were recorded for the USA, Japan, Russia and Switzerland. Following the strong increase in exports, the trade balance in March 2017 reached €1.8 billion. When looking at the last 12 months, from April 2016 to March 2017, EU agri-food exports reached a value of €133.5 billion, corresponding to an increase by 3.6% in value terms compared to the same period one year ago.
Focusing on the EU export performance per product category over the last twelve months, it confirms the trend of pig meat exports’ recovery. Main origins for EU agri-food imports over the past 12 months were Brazil, USA, Argentina and China, followed by Switzerland, Turkey, Indonesia, Ukraine and Ivory Coast.
