In the first half of this year, the EU-28 countries exported a total of 1,188 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables to Belarus. For comparison, this figure stood approximately at 500.8 thousand tonnes in the same period of 2014, while total shipments for the entire year amounted to 913.7 thousand tonnes, reports FAMMU/FAPA with data from Factsheet Russia.
The increase of EU exports to Belarus has thus been as high as 137 percent and has mostly affected fresh horticultural products, with the vast majority being re-exported to further directions, particularly the Russian market.
Besides Belarus, the most noteworthy increase in Eastern Europe has been registered in Lithuania, where shipments compared to the first half of last year have grown by as much as 685 percent, going from 101.4 thousand tonnes to the current 795.7 thousand tonnes.
Of the 1.188 million tonnes shipped to Belarus, approximately 921.9 thousand tonnes corresponded to fruit and the remaining 266.9 thousand tonnes to vegetables.
