EU exports of agri food and drink products were worth €229.8bn in 2022, a 31% increase on 2021. The value of imports also increased, up 31% to €172bn.

This leaves a positive trade balance of €58bn, which is a drop of €10bn compared with the previous year.

The dramatic increase in export and import values reflect the rising prices of commodities in 2022, while volumes of product remained fairly consistent with the previous year with a slump in pig meat export volumes to China the main exception.

Trade partners

The UK was the top destination for exports in 2022 at €47.8bn, €5.9bn or 14% more than 2021, driven by growth in cereal perpetrations and milling products, up €1.1bn with dairy, fruit, nuts and vegetables increasing by €500m.

The US is next, taking €28.9bn of EU exports in 2022 a €4.4bn or 18% increase on 2022 with wine, spirts and cereal preparations and milling products being the main growth categories.

The drop in pig meat exports of 982,000t to China was reflected in the 8% decrease in the overall value of exports to €15.8bn. Russia, despite increased trade sanctions, accounted for €7bn of EU exports in 2022 – a decline of just 4%.

Brazil was the top provider of EU imports in 2022 at €20.2bn, up a dramatic 49% on 2021.

While imports did increase in volume and value, the main categories were coffee, tea, cocoa and spices which jumped by €1.6bn, cereals were also up by €1.6bn, as were oilseeds and protein crops.

Volumes for cereals imported by the EU from Brazil more than doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, while vegetable oil volumes imported were up 87%. EU imports from the UK were up 28% to €28m, and perhaps unsurprisingly, imports from Ukraine increased significantly, up 88% to €13bn.

Cereals, dairy and meat trade

Oilseeds and protein crops were the EU’s main import category in 2022, accounting for €25.8bn of import value, up €7.5bn or 41% on 2021 imports. As well as the higher value, volume also increased in 2022 to 45m tonnes of protein crops, compared with 41m tonnes in 2021.

Soya bean imports were down slightly at 14m tonnes, while soya meal imports increased slightly to 16.9m tonnes in 2022.

Imports of cereals almost doubled in value, up €6.6bn to €12.7bn, with volumes up a significant 15m tonnes compared with 2021. Maize imports increased to offset the reduction in EU production, with imports from Brazil 2.5 times higher – 4.5m tonnes more than 2021.

Maize imports from Ukraine doubled, up 4.6m tonnes. Wheat imports increased by 7.2m tonnes, rice by 2.6m tonnes and other coarse grains by 3m tonnes.

EU dairy exports reached €20.6bn in 2022, the second largest category after cereal preparations and milling products, while pig meat dropped to the sixth highest value EU export at €13.8m.

EU dairy imports were €2.6bn, leaving a very positive trade balance of €17.9bn. With €373m of pig meat imports, the EU again has a huge positive trade balance of €13.4bn.

Poultry and egg exports were €5.9bn while imports were €2.3bn, leaving a positive balance of €3.6bn. Beef also had a positive balance – imports were €2.6bn, while exports were €4.3bn leaving a surplus of €1.7bn.

The EU consumes more sheep meat than it produces, with imports of €1.4bn and exports of €679m leaving a negative balance of €635m.

Trade values tell only part of the story, consideration of volumes traded is also necessary to understand the full picture. What is clear is that EU exports have been on an upward trend and are competitive in grain, dairy, pig meat and poultry.

The EU beef market remains relatively protected, though this has been lessening with trade agreements increasing access for US beef, and increases from South America and New Zealand still to come when agreements with them are ratified.

UK deals will also influence future trends, particularly with sheep meat, as they are the main supplier of the deficit in EU consumption over production.

The EU has ceased to be a major beef import market over the past decade as China has grown, but we can expect further changes over the next decade with trade deals.