After the slowdown of July 2023, the EU agri-food trade balance reached €5.7 billion in August 2023. The cumulative trade balance (from January to August 2023) reached €44.3 billion, which is €7.5 billion higher compared to the same period in 2022. These are the main findings of the latest monthly agri-food trade report published today by the European Commission.
Exports
In August 2023, EU agri-food exports remained stable at €18.2 billion. Across products, export prices remained high in 2023. Concerning the export destinations compared to 2022, there has been a significant evolution for exports to Türkiye (€851 million, +34%), whereas EU exports to the US decreased by 8% (-€1 561 million), as well as to Egypt decreased by 35% (- €635 million) and Algeria (‑20%, ‑ €502 million).
The top three destinations for EU agri-food exports between January and August 2023 remained the United Kingdom, the United States, and China.
Imports
EU imports increased by 5% in the month of August 2023 to reach €12.5 billion, still 15% below their level of August 2022. Nonetheless, cumulative imports from January to August 2023 reached €107.4 billion, showing a slight decline compared to the same period in 2022 (‑€3 billion, ‑3%).
Compared to 2022, imports decreased for oilseeds and protein crops (‑€2 billion, ‑12%), as well as for vegetable oils (‑ €1.9 billion, ‑27%). While both import volumes and prices declined for oilseeds (respectively 5% and 7% decrease), the reduction in EU import value of vegetable oils has been mostly driven by the price reduction.
2023 imports decreased mostly from Brazil (‑€1.3 billion, -10%, mostly soya beans) and from Argentina (‑ €1.2 billion, -27%, mostly soya meals). Declines were also recorded from Australia (- €870 million, ‑30%, mostly rapeseed) and Philippines (- €528 million, ‑47%, mostly coconut oil).
The top three import countries between January and August 2023 were Brazil, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
For more information: agriculture.ec.europa.eu