Spanish exports of fruit and vegetables grew in both volume and value through the opening nine months of the year, according to figures released by the country's Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and published by Fepex.
The group noted that exports climbed by 8 per cent in volume and 14 per cent in value year-on-year, coming to 9.2m tonnes and €8.67bn respectively.
Fruit exports, which accounted for 60 per cent of the total, grew 10 per cent in volume to 5.6m tonnes, and 15 per cent in value, reaching €5.21bn, driven by citrus, berries, watermelon and melon in particular.
Blueberry exports totaled €202m (+31 per cent), raspberries were €182m (+35 per cent), watermelon exports grew 31 per cent to €290m and melons were up 7 per cent at €258m.
The export of vegetables from January to September totaled 3.6m tonnes, 4 per cent more than in the same period of 2014, with a value of €3.46bn (+14 per cent). Many products came in higher than last year, including tomatoes at €705m (+1 per cent), peppers (€581m, +4 per cent) and lettuce at €442m, growth of 16 per cent.
Exports to the EU stood at €8.07bn, growth of 17 per cent, accounting for 93 per cent of overall export value, while exports to non-EU markets fell 9 per cent to stand at €602m.
Germany remains the leading destination for shipments, with €2.1bn-worth of exports, an increase of 17 per cent, followed by France with €1.58bn (+15 per cent) and the UK with €1.22bn (+16 per cent).
By region, Andalucía exported fresh produce worth €3.13bn (+15 per cent), Valencia €2.31bn (+13 per cent) and Murcia €1.83bn (+10 per cent). Elsewhere, Catalonia had €637.5m of exports (+12 per cent), Extremadura came in with €177m (+24 per cent) and Aragon stood at €115m (+6 per cent). By province, there was growth in exports from Huelva, with a 15 per cent increase to 774m, and Seville, up 17 per cent to €230 million.
Imports of fruit and vegetables into Spain also increased, rising 7 per cent in volume to 1.8m tonnes and 16 per cent in value, totaling 1.41bn.
'For Fepex, export growth is mainly attributable to the good performance of consumer demand in the whole EU,' the group said. 'Also noteworthy is the high growth in value, which shows an orientation towards higher value-added products and new formats, linked to the evolution of consumer demand on the community market.'
