The value of fresh fruit and vegetable exports from the EU to the US dropped 9 per cent year-on-year in 2023
Fepex has highlighted a negative trend in fresh produce exports from Europe, and Spain in particular, to the US.
Fruit and vegetable exports from Spain to the US fell 2 per cent in value to €85mn last year, it reported, while total EU fresh produce exports to the country fell 9 per cent to €198mn.
In terms of volume, Spanish exports came to 27,103 tonnes, a year-on-year drop of 18 per cent. It continued the downward trend seen over the last five years, as Spain’s sales in the US market stood at 36,328 tonnes in 2019.
Garlic was the most exported Spanish category to the US in 2023, with 18,801 tonnes worth €67.5mn, according to customs data processed by Fepex.
This was followed by cucumbers, with 1,878 tonnes worth €3.7mn, and onions, with 1,763 tonnes at a value of €1.5mn.
Other notable exports were potatoes at 1,099 tonnes worth €2.1mn, and mandarins with 1,023 tonnes worth €1.1mn.
For the EU as a whole, fruit and vegetable exports to the US stood at 72,688 tonnes last year, a drop of 13 per cent.
For the five-year period, exports from the 27 member states to the US fell 30 per cent, having stood at 104,863 tonnes in 2019.
Kiwifruit was the leading product exported by the EU to the US in 2023, with 33,446 tonnes at a value of €63mn.
”Despite the importance of the United States market, due to its size and the purchasing power of consumers, Spanish exports of fruit and vegetables are very limited,” Fepex outlined.
”[This is] because the opening of this market generally requires the approval by the United States of a phytosanitary protocol for each product, which is negotiated between the US administration (USDA) and the Spanish administration and usually lasts several years,” it noted. “And other EU producing countries are in the same situation.”
