Newsletters

On 23 March, the European Commission published its monthly trade report for the year 2021, confirming that the total value of EU agri-food trade reached a record €328.1 billion in 2021, a 7% increase year on year. The report features a special focus on EU agri-food trade with Ukraine and Russia in the past year, and indicates that Russia's unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine is having a significant impact on agri-food trade in the EU and around the world.

According to the Commission’s report, agri-food products were primarily sent to the United Kingdom, United States and China in 2021, accounting for 42% of all agri-food exports. While exports to the UK fell sharply in the early part of the year due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, they returned to normal levels from March and remained stable year on year. Exports to China, in turn, fell by €550 million or 3%. Elsewhere, there were strong performances in exports to South Korea (up €910 million), Switzerland (up €815 million) and Norway (up €562 million).

The report shows that 2021 saw Brazil become the primary supplier of agri-food imports to the EU, with values growing by 19% to reach €13.5 billion. This was driven by imports of soya beans (up 50%), coffee (up 25%) and oilcakes (up 13%). Imports from the UK experienced a major decline, falling by €3.8 billion or 25% year on year. Imports from the US also declined, falling by €366 million or 4%. Elsewhere, notable increases were seen in imports from Indonesia (up €1.2 billion) and Ukraine (up €1 billion).

Source: European Commission