The annual value of European Union (EU) agri-food exports reached a new record in 2016 with the biggest increases reported to the United States and China, official data showed Thursday.
The value of the bloc’s agri-food last year stood at 130.7 billion euros (138 billion US dollars), up 1.7 billion euros on 2015, said the European Commission, which monitors trade development.
The biggest increases in annual exports were to the United States and China, up 1.26 billion euros and 1.06 billion euros respectively, the Commission said.
At the same time, the value of EU agri-food imports went down 1.5 per cent to 112 billion euros, leading to an increase of the EU agri-food trade surplus to 18.8 billion euros, up from 15.3 billion euros in 2015, data showed.
The agri-food sector accounted for 7.5 per cent of total EU exports in goods in 2016 and 6.6 per cent of all imported goods were agri-food products, said the Commission, according to Xinhua.
Source: EU food exports hit new high
