New figures just released show that, in 2013, EU agri-food exports continued to grow as in the previous years and reached €120 billion, which made the European Union the world's number one exporter of agricultural and food products.
At the same time, EU imports remained roughly stable, so the net agricultural trade balance stretched to a surplus of €18.5 billion.
These are the main conclusions of the overview of the EU's agricultural trade performance in 2013 just published by the European Commission.
While the EU is a renowned exporter of high value-added final products, the export growth in 2013 can be largely attributed to commodities, notably wheat and barley, with exports to Middle East-North African countries booming in 2013.
Overall, the fastest-growing export markets for EU agricultural products were China and Saudi Arabia, although the US continued to be the most important destination for EU agri-food exports.
