Spain's fresh fruit and vegetable imports increased 8 per cent in value during the January-March period of 2018, up to €1.47bn.
According to statistics from the Department of Customs and Special Taxes, €1.04bn of that total was imports from third countries, year-on-year growth of 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, €430m of imports came from the EU, a drop of 12 per cent, Fepex reported.
Leading third country exporters to Spain included Morocco, Peru, Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil, while EU exporters were lead by France, Portugal and the Netherlands.
By volume, Spanish fresh produce import jumped 10 per cent during the three months in question, up to 1.7m tonnes, with 883,200 tonnes from the EU (+1 per cent) and 849,273 tonnes came from non-EU countries.
