Spanish tomatoes

Tomatoes have been one of the export success stories of the year so far for Spain

Spanish exports of fresh fruit and vegetables have increased in both volume and value for the opening nine months of the year, according to data from the country's Department of Customs and Excise, reported by Fepex.

For the January-September period, fresh produce exports increased by 6 per cent in volume terms to 8.3m tonnes, while jumping 14 per cent in value terms to €7.7bn.

Fepex said that fruit exports grew 4 per cent in volume year-on-year, up to 5m tonnes, while improving 13 per cent in value to €4.56bn.

Vegetables exports, meanwhile, climbed 10 per cent in volume to 3.2m tonnes, and soared 16 per cent in value to €3.1bn.

The primary exporting regions of Valencia, Andalusia and Murcia all saw export growth in volume and value terms, as did the secondary export region of Catalonia.

The EU remained the main export destination for exports, taking on 92 per cent of Spain's total shipments, led by Germany (24 per cent of total exports), France (19 per cent) and the UK (13 per cent).

Spanish fresh produce imports, meanwhile, came to 1.7m tonnes for the nine-month period, at a value of €1.2bn.

For the month of September alone, fruit and vegetable exports grew 23 per cent in volume and 23 per cent in value, up to 562,318 tonnes and €464m respectively.

'For Fepex, strong export growth in September is attributable largely to the good weather that month, causing a strong supply growth in almost all products,' the organisation noted.