Spain has become the world's eighth largest exporter of food products (agriculture and fishery) and the fourth one in the European Union, according to data released in August by the World Trade Organization and that was included in the Analysis of Foreign Trade report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Spain exported 35,000 million euro in 2012.
In the world ranking of agricultural and fishery exporting countries Spain is behind the US (133 976 M €), the Netherlands (80,379 M €), Germany (71 417 M €), Brazil (67,292 M €), France (61,236 M €), China (51,506 M €) and Canada (48,906 M €), but ahead of countries such as Belgium, Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina and Italy.
The economic value of the sector's exports in Spain increased 9.6 percent from 2011, the highest growth among the EU countries that export the most, ahead of France (2 per percent), Germany (5.3 percent), the Netherlands (4.5 percent) and Italy (4.9 percent).
Imports
In 2012, Spain, with about 32,200 M €, ranked 11th in imports (7th among EU Member States) behind China, USA, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium and Russia. In 2011 Spain occupied the 10th position, ahead of Russia, which in 2012 increased imports by 5.2%, while Spain remained stable (0.3%).
If we analyze the Spanish sector’s balance we can observe that among the 20 countries with the highest positive balance, Spain is the one that has had the greatest increase (121%) when compared to 2011. The product groups that have contributed in 2012 to increase exports have been Fruits (11%), beverages (15%), meat (12%) and vegetables (9%).
Source: hortoinfo.es