From January to October 2016, the Spanish export of fresh fruit and vegetables to the United States reached 21,364 tonnes, according to the latest data from the Directorate General of Customs, processed by FEPEX. This is 2% less than in the same months of 2015, although the value grew by 22% and amounted to 33.7 million Euro.
Spanish exports to the United States have stabilised in recent years, with slight downward trends. In 2015, for example, the export stood at 51,414 tonnes, practically the same volume as in 2011, when 60,061 tonnes were exported.
Meanwhile, the EU exports of fruit and vegetables to the United States up to October 2016 amounted to 92,786 tonnes, 37% more than in the same months of 2015, with 56,550 tonnes of vegetables (+40%) and 36,236 tonnes of fruit (+33%). The value stood at 134 million Euro (+41%), of which 97.7 million Euro corresponded to vegetables (+50%) and 36.2 million Euro to fruits (+15%).
The EU has recorded a positive development of horticultural shipments up until October 2016, but in previous years there has been a stabilisation of shipments, with minimum volumes and values in relation to the size of the market. As evidence of this, the EU exported a total of 116,650 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables to the United States in 2015, virtually the same volume as five years earlier (113,141 tonnes in 2011).
FEPEX believes that the volumes exported to the United States are still very small when looking at the total Spanish exports, which is mostly due to protectionist measures. In this regard, the legal documents of the TTIP negotiated by the European Commission and the United States which have been made public give no certainty about the lifting of the phytosanitary requirements imposed by the US on fresh fruit and vegetable imports from the EU.
