Source: Vietnambiz.vn
The Vietnam Trade Office in the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg cited the report “Import of organic agricultural products into the European market: breakthroughs in 2019” announced by the European Commission on June 3, 2020, According to the report, in the period of 2018 – 2019, the import of organic agricultural products is generally stable, but the volume of imported organic grains will decrease in 2019.
Meanwhile, imports of tropical fruits, oil cakes, soybeans and sand sugar have increased.
In 2019, the EU imported more than 3.2 million tons of organic agricultural products, a slight increase of 0.4% compared to 2018. Organic agricultural products accounted for about 2% of the total number of agricultural products imported into the EU.
The portfolio of organic products includes grains, vegetable oils, sugar, milk powder and butter, accounting for 54% of the total organic agricultural product imports into Europe. Other products including meat, fruits, vegetables, yogurt and honey account for about 38% of imports.
However, commodities and raw products have a lower value than processed products, and processed products dominate and have a total value up to 15% higher.
The European Member State that imports the most organic products in 2019 is the Netherlands with 32% by volume, followed by Germany 13%, the UK 12% and finally Belgium 11%.
Ten countries with the most organic products exported to the EU, accounting for 70% of imports in 2019, include: China 13%, Ukraine 10%, Dominican Republic 10%, Ecuador 9%, Peru 7%, Turkey. Turkey 7%, India 5%, Colombia 3%, Kazakhstan 3% and Brazil 2%.
Products imported from China are mainly organic oil cakes, while countries Ecuador, Dominica and Peru mainly export organic tropical fruits, nuts and spices to Europe.
Organic grains (including wheat, excluding rice) are imported from Ukraine, Turkey and Kazakhstan. Finally, Brazil and Colombia’s main export product to the EU is organic sugar.
Overall, tropical fruits, nuts and spices are the most imported organic products in 2019, accounting for 27% of total organic imports (0.9 million tons).
In particular, bananas are the main import item, accounting for 85% of the import turnover of tropical fruits. It was followed by oil cake, with 12% of imported organic agricultural products (0.4 million tons), followed by 7% (0.2 million tons) of sugar and grains (except wheat and rice). ).
Compared to 2018 figures, the biggest change is related to an increase in imports of tropical fruits, nuts and spices by 13%, sugar by 29%, vegetables by 8%, raw coffee, tea and tea powder increased by 11% and soybeans by 25%. Organic grains (excluding wheat and rice) dropped 8%, wheat 16% and oily grains (not soybeans) down 17%.
