Trade mostly from the Netherlands and Belgium

The Freshfel data provides a deeper insight into the fruit and vegetable exports from the EU to Russia. It reveals which products were Exported to Russia by each country, in what volumes, and for how many dollars. Today, Western Europe, the Netherlands and Belgium have been the most hit.

Western Europe
In terms of export volumes, Belgium and the Netherlands take alternately the first nine spots. In tenth place we find French apples with a volume of 17,332 tonnes, a significant decline compared to the 38,000 tonnes a year earlier. Western Europe’s most exported product are Belgian pears with 86,000 tonnes, also a significant drop compared to the 116,000 tonnes shipped to Russia a year earlier. Belgian pears are followed by Dutch tomatoes with 73 626 tonnes. Tomato exports have increased sharply from just under 52,000 tonnes in 2012, followed by onions, pears, carrots and apples.

As for export values, Belgium and the Netherlands take the first six spots. Belgium is again on the first place, with pears reaching an export value of $ 108 million, followed by Dutch tomatoes with close to 102 million dollars.

From these figures, it is clear that the hardest hit are a small number of EU countries. In particular, Poland, Greece, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium will suffer huge losses. By products, the most affected by the Russian ban will be apple and pear growers in Poland and Belgium, stone fruit growers in southern Europe and tomato growers in Spain and the Netherlands.