The value of EU agri-food trade reached a new record high in November 2022 of almost €37 billion, the EU Commission has confirmed.

The data shows that between January and November 2022 the overall value of the EU agri-food trade was €369 billion, which is a 23% increase on the same period in 2021.

The commission said that this has been driven by an increase in the value of exports by 17% and imports of 34%.

The EU trade balance stands at €53.5 billion from January to November 2022.

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The latest monthly agri-food trade report published today (Tuesday, March 7) by the EU Commission shows that agri-food exports in November grew by 2% from October to €21.2 billion.

Over the first 11 months of 2022 EU agri-food exports reached €211 billion.

The main destination for EU exports are the UK and the US. Since the start of 2022, exports to the UK rose by 21%, while they grew by 13% to the US.

However, the report shows that there was a decrease in exports of pigmeat, cereals and vegetable oils from the EU to China.

There was a significant decline in the value and quantity of goods exported to Russia.

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The report shows that agri-food imports to the EU were stable in November, compared to the previous month.

The value of EU imports climbed to €157 billion between January and November 2022, due to higher food prices.

Image: EU Commission

Brazil, the UK and Ukraine are the main countries that are exporting agri-food products into the EU.

EU imports from Brazil reached €18 billion between January and November 2022, which is an increase of 51% on the same period in 2021. This has been mainly due to price increases on global markets.

Imports from the UK increased by 27% to €8.6 billion, while imports from Ukraine were worth €11.5 billion for the period.

In the first 11 months of 2022, the importation of maize to the EU increased by nine million tonnes, soya cake was up by 737,000t and rapeseed rose by 1.3 million tonnes.