Spanish sendings to the UK rose year-on-year for the first nine months of 2011 thanks to a strong performance before the effects of the E. coli crisis kicked in.
Figures released this week by Spanish producer-exporters’ association Fepex show that the UK was Spain’s third largest market after Germany and France and exports rose by 11 per cent in volume to 890,000 tonnes and by 14 per cent in value to €855 million.
Total exports during the nine-month period registered a 12 per cent volume increase and a 0.13 per cent value rise. Average prices per kilo fell seven per cent.
“Value did not decline during this period because of the continuous growth up to the month of May which compensated for the falls during the months of June, July, August and September,” the organisation said in a statement.
The figure for the month of September showed a 5.5 per cent decline year on year in value to €320m to all export markets while volume rose by two per cent to 427,967t. “For Fepex, the September figures reflect a start to the season marked by low prices due to the confluence of three factors: the economic crisis which is affecting consumption in some of the major markets, the lack of effective crisis-management measures and, for some products, the ineffectiveness of the entry-price system,” the statement read. “Fepex considers that urgent reform of crisis-management measures and the entry-price system are urgently required without waiting for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, in order to maintain profitability in the sector.”
