After a slowdown in EU agri-food trade in April, the European Commission has said that both exports and imports “bounced back” in May.
A higher increase in exports compared to imports allowed the EU agri-food surplus to increase by 2% month-on-month in May, reaching €5.1 billion.
The latest monthly agri-food trade report published today (Friday, August 25) shows that EU agri-food exports climbed by 8% month-on-month in May, reaching €19.4 billion.
That figure is the same amount as in the same month last year.
Agri-food exports
The data shows that EU agri-food exports from January to May 2023 totalled €95.7 billion overall, up 8% from the corresponding period in 2022.
Exports increased in May across most product categories compared to the previous month.
From January to May 2023, the biggest increase in exports was recorded for fruit and vegetable preparations which rose by €974 million, up 25% compared to 2022.
Confectionery and chocolate exports increased by 18% or €645 million on the first five months of last year, while grain preparations and milling products were up by €1.3 billion (+15%).
The commission said that most of these increases in export value can be explained by higher prices, as opposed to larger volumes.
However, the data shows that vegetable oils, oilseeds and protein crops, and cereals increased export volumes by 40%, 23%, and 16%, respectively.
The top three destinations for EU agri-food exports between January and May were the UK, the US and China.
Exports to the UK and China increased compared to 2022, while they decreased in direction of the United States and Egypt.
Imports
The EU Commission report shows that EU agri-food imports jumped 10% month-on-month in May to €14.3 billion.
This is 8% below the May 2022 level as unit values of agri-food imports have decreased over the year.
Since the beginning of 2023, total imports remained 3% higher than at the same period in 2022.
Cereal imports increased by €1.7 billion from January to May 2023, with a 48% increase in volumes.
Sugar imports nearly doubled and tobacco imports increased by 53%, the commission said.
Imports of vegetable oils decreased both in value (-23%) and volume (-10%), similar to mixed food preparations (-11% in value and -14% in volume).
Margarine and other oils and fats imports decreased in value by 16% mainly due to lower import prices.
The top three origin countries for EU agri-food imports between January and May were Brazil, the UK and Ukraine.
Imports from Ukraine had increased in comparison to 2022, while imports from Argentina and Russia had decreased.