US remain EU’s largest trading partner for agricultural products

Trade in agricultural produce between the EU and the rest of the world hit €275 billion in 2017, according to Eurostat. Agricultural products are generally divided into three categories: vegetables (trees, plants, vegetables, fruit, coffee, cereals, seeds and oil), foodstuffs (various types of processed goods deriving from vegetable and animal products such as sugar, beverages, tobacco and prepared animal fodder) and animal products (live animals, meat, fish, crustaceans, dairy produce, eggs, honey).

Vegetables accounted for 22% of exports and 48% of EU imports of agricultural products. The largest market for EU agricultural exports in 2017 was the US, accounting for 16% of the total, followed by China (8%) and Switzerland (6%). The largest agricultural suppliers to the EU were Brazil and the US (8% each), followed by Norway and China (5% each).