Extra demand for pork, offal meat, infant food and wheat drove an increase in the value of EU exports to China, leading to rise of €1.14 billion compared to January-March 2019. High exports of barley and wheat led to increases for both Saudi Arabia (up €312 million) and Morocco (a growth of €240 million), while strong rises were also recorded for exports to the Russian Federation (up by €189 million) and the USA (€187 million).
The first months of the Brexit transition period left a mark on EU exports to the UK, the value of which fell by €827 million. Falls were also recorded for Hong Kong (down by €158 million) and Lebanon (down €93 million).
A growth of €366 million in the monthly import value of agri-food products from Canada was propelled by rapeseed, rapeseed oil and soya beans. There was also a growth in the value of products imported from Cote d'Ivoire (up by €238 million, largely driven by demand for cocoa beans) and Turkey (a rise of €177 million, led by fruits and citrus, vegetable preparations).
However, the value of imports from the UK fell by €460 million, while declines were also noted in the cases of Ukraine (down by €230 million) and the USA (a drop of €123 million).
Several EU agri-food products enjoyed a growth in their export values during this period, most notably in the cases of wheat (€979 million), pig meat (€901 million) and coarse grains (€354 million). The export value of wine, however, fell by €233 million, while falls were also recorded for raw hides and skins (down by €172 million), spirits and liqueurs (down €144 million), and beat and cane sugar (a decrease of €97 million).
The highest growth in monthly import values was for fresh and dried tropical fruit (a jump of €547 million), with notable increases for palm and palm kernel oil (up by €317 million) and oilseeds (other than soyabeans) (up €288 million). However, decreases were recorded for oil cakes (a declined of €319 million), coarse grains (down by €451 million), raw tobacco (a fall of €180 million) and wheat (a drop of €109 million).
