According to data produced by Eurostat and consolidated by Freshfel Europe, volumes of fresh fruit imports from third countries into the EU decreased by 1.56 per cent in 2010 compared with the year before, while the corresponding value increased by 2.72 per cent.

As for vegetables, import volumes fell by 4.38 per cent, while the value increased by some 10.1 per cent.

The data also showed that volumes of fresh fruit exported to third countries jumped by 13.1 per cent, with the value also significantly increasing by 32.3 per cent compared with 2009. The 2010 export volume and value of vegetables increased by 8.92 per cent and 36.8 per cent respectively.

Russia remained comfortably the EU's largest export market, accounting for 40.1 per cent of fruit volumes and 34.1 per cent of vegetable volumes.

The Ukraine stood as the EU's second biggest market for fruit, accounting for 10.5 per cent of exports, followed by Switzerland (9.29 per cent) and Norway (5.75 per cent).

For vegetables, Switzerland came in second with 10.5 per cent, followed by Senegal (8.21 per cnt) and Norway (5.99 per cent).

As for the different fruit categories, apples remained the most exported fruit in 2010 with more than 1.2m tonnes, representing an increase of 5.98%.

Pears and quinces were ranked in second place with 345,559 tonnes exported, followed closely by mandarins (291,490 tonnes).

Onions and shallots remained the most exported vegetables in 2010, reaching a total of 700,960 tonnes, while tomatoes were ranked second with 158,957 tonnes, followed by cabbages, kohlrabi and kale with 127,687 tonnes.

Daniel Corbel, chairman of Freshfel’s Export Division, commented: “We are welcoming the on-going growth of our exports, which remain widely influenced by the developments on the Russian and Ukrainian markets, but further development could be expected if solutions would be found in regard to cost, complexity and unnecessary restrictive constraints of phytosanitary protocols. It is important that EU fresh produce with their assets and specificity could contribute to the growth of consumption in emerging markets and also alleviate through exports the EU market.”

As for the different fruit categories, bananas and plantains remained by far the most imported fruit in 2010 with more than 4.5m tonnes, but this represents a drop of 0.33 per cent compared with the previous year.

Oranges were ranked second with close to 922,000 tonnes, followed by pineapples, apples, grapes, lemons and mandarins.

The main trading partner for fruit was Costa Rica, accounting for 15 per cent of volumes, followed by Ecuador (12.2 per cent), Colombia (11.4 per cent), South Africa (10.3 per cent) and Chile (5.71 per cent).

In 2010, tomatoes remained the most imported vegetable into the EU, reaching a quantity of 477,148 tonnes, down by 6.46 per cent compared with 2009.

Tomatoes were followed by onions and shallots (306,509 tonnes), sweet peppers (227,643 tonnes) and beans (186,567 tonnes).

The main trading partners for vegetables were Morocco, which accounted for 32.3 per cent of volumes, Turkey (15.6 per cent), Israel (10.1 per cent) and Egypt (6.87 per cent).

On the results, Philippe Binard, general delegate of Freshfel, commented: 'More efforts still need to be made at EU-level to move towards greater reciprocity in trade, tackling technical barriers for exports such as complexity and costs in relation to the implementation of protocols and exchange rates. Regarding imports one needs to have a closer look at unstable pesticides and MRL legislations and private standards that go beyond legislation.”

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