According to the European Commission (EC), last year China replaced Russia as the second largest destination for agricultural product exports from the European Union (EU) after Moscow vetoed European food products. The study analyzes the period between September 2014 and August 2015. As a result of the Russian embargo, EC sales to this country fell by 42 percent in the analyzed period over the previous year.
The veto mainly affected dairy, fruit, and vegetable exports and positioned Russia as the fourth destination country for European agricultural products, just behind Switzerland- .
In parallel, exports to China increased by 37 percent.
Meanwhile, exports to the United States, which remained as the main destination for EU agricultural sales, increased by 18 percent.
Overall, exports of agricultural products to third countries increased by 6 percent over the previous year and amounted to 128,000 million Euro.
This confirms the Community's surplus in the trade balance and the positive trend in this direction in recent months, the EC said.
According to data from Brussels, agricultural exports significantly increased: to South Korea (27 percent), Turkey (27 percent), Hong Kong (15 percent), as well as to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, although the EC did not give details regarding those three countries.
EU agricultural imports rose 8 percent over the previous year of the period being analyzed, which runs from September 2014 to August 2015, and amounted to 110,000 million Euro.
The EU imported the most agricultural products from Brazil, which increased by 14 percent, the United States (+14.5 percent in the last year) and Argentina.
Source: fyh.es