Ecuador bananas to Spain

The balance of Spanish fresh produce imports continues to to tilt in the favour of EU member nations, although non-EU countries are clawing back the deficit slowly but surely.

For the opening quarter of 2014, Spain's fresh fruit and vegetable imports came to 621,353 tonnes, with 388,377 tonnes coming from EU countries (62.5 per cent) and 232,976 tonnes coming from outside the EU bloc (37.5 per cent) – up from 35 per cent last year.

However, in value terms, non-EU imports were actually higher than those from the European Union. Total import value for the quarter came to €419m, with €228.5m of fresh produce coming from non-EU countries (54 per cent) and €190.5m coming from the EU (46 per cent).

Overall, vegetable imports came to 346,388 tonnes, led by potatoes, while fruit imports stood at 274,965 tonnes, headed by bananas.

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