EU fact of the week
date: 06/09/2019
EU is yet again the largest global exported of food and agricultural products as EU exports reach €138 billion in 2018
The EU is for yet another year the largest global exporter of agri-food products as EU exports reached €138 billion in 2018, according to a report published on 5 September. Agriculture products represent a 7% share of the value of EU total goods exported in 2018, ranking fourth after machinery, other manufactured goods and chemicals. Agriculture and the food related industries and services together provide almost 44 million jobs in the EU. The top five destinations for EU's agri-food products continues to be the United States, China, Switzerland, Japan and Russia, accounting for 40% of EU exports. Wines and vermouth continue to dominate the basket of exported products with spirits and liqueurs ranking second, followed by infant food and various food preparations, chocolate, pasta and pastry. Regarding imports, the report concludes that the EU became the second biggest importer of agri-food products with €116 billion worth of imports. This brings the EU trade balance for this sector to a positive net of €22 billion.