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ORIGINAL LANGUAGE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pan-European Conference on Food Safety and Quality Budapest, Hungary, 25 – 28 February 2002 Conference Room Document Developments of international agricultural trade
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In the first 6 years of the nineties international agricultural trade increased by 6 percent per year until agricultural export value reached its highest level of 466 billion US$ in 1996 and import of 479 billion US$. After 1996 both im- and exports dropped gradually with 2 percent per year to the trade levels of 1999.
The European region as a whole followed more or less the same pattern whereas intra-EU trade covers 70 percent of all international trade of the region. Agricultural exports rose from 163 billion US$ in 1990 to 225 billion in 1996. After that it dropped to 206 billion dollars in 1999. Imports grew from 182 billion US$ to 244 in 1996 and then fell to the 1999 level of 222 billion dollars. The differences in international agricultural trade performance between the European Union and the countries in Central and Eastern Europe are substantial and strongly influenced by the socio-economic changes in the past decade.
Agricultural im- and exports of the European countries represent roughly 50 percent of the worlds' international agricultural trade (see figure 2). This figure is based on external trade of individual countries. When the European Union as a whole is considered, the figures are different. Exports in 1999 of the individual EU countries had a total value of 185 billion US$ whereas export value of products from the Union as a whole to countries outside the Union was US$ 51 billion. Almost 70 percent of agricultural export value of the EU-countries are covered by internal EU-trade. For imports in 1999 the figures are US$ 188 billion accumulated by the member countries and US$ 55 billion by the EU as a whole. Of those imports roughly 70 percent is based on internal EU trade.
Figure 2. International agricultural trade in 1996 and 1999 in US$ x 1 mln.
Region |
Export 1996 |
Export 1999 |
Import 1996 |
Import 1999 |
World |
465,699 |
417,310 |
478,923 |
441,443 |
Europe, including internal trade |
224,812 |
205,520 |
243,874 |
222,375 |
European Union including internal trade |
199,093 |
184,707 |
202,013 |
187,901 |
European Union excluding internal trade |
56,928 |
51,217 |
64,179 |
55,236 |
Europe, Non-European Union |
25,719 |
21,014 |
41,859 |
34,474 |
Transition markets |
19,556 |
15,161 |
30,737 |
24,536 |
Source: FAOStat, November 2001
Outside the European Union and especially in the transition markets, both exports and imports dropped considerably between 1996 and 1999. High import rates of some countries at the beginning of the nineties decreased by higher domestic agricultural production or economical decline by the end of the decade. A limited number of Central and Eastern European countries developed exports in that period.
The total agricultural trade deficit of the European Region as a whole is 9 percent, mainly due to a negative trade balance in many Central and East European countries. The agricultural trade balance of the European Union is just slightly negative. Increase of agricultural exports might be an important tool for the socio-economic development of some transition countries, where a large part of the active population is working in agriculture.
On the level of individual countries, most of the 45 countries are net importers. Only 12 European countries are net exporters. Germany is the most significant importer of agricultural products in Europe, followed by the United Kingdom. The most important exporting countries in the European Union are France, the Netherlands and Germany. Outside the European Union the main exporting countries in the region are Turkey, Poland and Hungary.
More information about trade statistics can be found at the FAO web site:
http://apps.fao.org/page/collections
International trade in millions of US$ of indiviual countries of the FAO/WHO European regions
Source: FAOStat, 2001
EU countries |
Import 96 |
Import 99 |
Export 96 |
Export 99 |
non-EU countries |
Import 96 |
Import 99 |
Export 96 |
Export 99 |
Austria |
4316 |
4690 |
2631 |
3429 |
Albania |
318 |
207 |
34 |
20 |
Belgium-Luxemburg |
17032 |
16238 |
18817 |
17717 |
Armenia |
312 |
205 |
13 |
18 |
Denmark |
4427 |
4534 |
10411 |
9073 |
Azerbaijan |
384 |
200 |
92 |
87 |
Finland |
2149 |
2060 |
1546 |
969 |
Belarus |
945 |
843 |
367 |
444 |
France |
27619 |
25239 |
40402 |
36812 |
Bosnia Herzegovina |
536 |
463 |
12 |
24 |
Germany |
44763 |
37224 |
26457 |
23777 |
Bulgaria |
428 |
319 |
889 |
618 |
Greece |
3867 |
3605 |
3657 |
3015 |
Croatia |
898 |
667 |
475 |
395 |
Ireland |
3016 |
3416 |
7323 |
6577 |
Cyprus |
993 |
682 |
831 |
473 |
Italy |
25569 |
22013 |
16889 |
15921 |
Czech |
2202 |
1838 |
1228 |
1163 |
Portugal |
4315 |
4177 |
1487 |
1451 |
Estonia |
697 |
567 |
333 |
261 |
Spain |
13159 |
11857 |
14964 |
14032 |
Georgia |
251 |
147 |
49 |
55 |
Sweden |
4312 |
4279 |
1822 |
1810 |
Hungary |
966 |
985 |
2679 |
2256 |
The Netherlands |
20786 |
20118 |
37285 |
34387 |
Iceland |
181 |
181 |
30 |
25 |
United Kingdom |
26680 |
28445 |
15398 |
15730 |
Israel |
2028 |
1843 |
1339 |
1202 |
Kazachstan |
484 |
361 |
810 |
508 |
|||||
Kyrgyzstan |
183 |
108 |
213 |
188 |
|||||
Latvia |
299 |
671 |
115 |
148 |
|||||
Lithuania |
595 |
559 |
529 |
382 |
|||||
Malta |
287 |
289 |
30 |
55 |
|||||
Macedonia |
277 |
312 |
252 |
362 |
|||||
Moldova |
116 |
44 |
587 |
302 |
|||||
Norway |
2010 |
1973 |
523 |
443 |
|||||
Poland |
4056 |
3285 |
2595 |
2514 |
|||||
Romania |
940 |
835 |
711 |
488 |
|||||
Russian Fed. |
10935 |
7914 |
1698 |
611 |
|||||
Slovakia |
844 |
806 |
417 |
424 |
|||||
Slovenia |
831 |
753 |
365 |
277 |
|||||
Switzerland |
5461 |
4993 |
2511 |
2099 |
|||||
Tajikistan |
169 |
219 |
187 |
117 |
|||||
Turkey |
4008 |
2654 |
4700 |
4209 |
|||||
Turkmenistan |
266 |
168 |
358 |
147 |
|||||
Ukraine |
1342 |
895 |
2745 |
1906 |
|||||
Uzbekistan |
169 |
672 |
187 |
117 |
|||||
Yugoslavia |
570 |
492 |
531 |
366 |