According to data released by the European Commission (EC), agricultural food exports from the European Union (EU) in 2015 amounted to a record $129,000 million Euro, 6% more than in the previous year.
In 2015, EU agricultural food exports to the US increased by 18.5%, while exports to China (which replaced Russia as the second destination) increased by 39%, and exports to Saudi Arabia and Turkey increased by 34% and 20% in value, respectively.
Exports to Switzerland, the UAE, Egypt, Australia, Canada, and South Korea also increased.
Russia fell to fourth place, as exports to this country decreased by 36%, from 9,000 million Euro in 2014 to 5,600 million in 2015, because of the veto imposed by Moscow on European products, a response to the economic sanctions imposed by the Union on Russia for its intervention in eastern Ukraine.
The export value of fresh fruit decreased (-341 million Euro, i.e. 12% less). These declines were due to the Russian veto and the falling demand in China.
Meanwhile, the EU's agricultural imports from third countries in 2015 amounted to 113,000 million Euro, 8.7% more than in the previous year.
Imports from Brazil (traditionally the EU's main provider) remained stable, while imports from the US (the second provider) had the highest increase (+16%) and amounted to 1,600 million Euro.
There were also increases in the imports from Turkey (862 million, up 21%), China (489 million, up 10%), Argentina (466 million, up 9%), Vietnam (377 million, up 20%) and Colombia (360 million, up 21%).
Imports from Indonesia decreased by 4% and amounted to 189 million Euro, and imports from Canada decreased by 2% and totalled 42 million.
