The EU Commissioner Phil Hogan negotiated with the representatives of the Peoples Republic of China and Japan to increase export of dairy products and pork from the EU.
Ljubljana. According to the EU data, in February of this year, the export rate of farm products from the EU countries reached 10.2 billion euros, which is higher than the January figures, and even slightly higher than the last year indicators. On the other hand, the import to the EU countries also increases.
Over the last month, the highest growth rate of export belongs to the US (15%) and China (13.5%). The import of farm products rose by 8.4% over the last year, and as a result, the trade balance surplus amounted to about 16 billion euros.
The statistical report of this month is focused on China, which is the second most important port of destination and the fourth most important country of destination for the import of agricultural products from the EU. In 2015, the export to China increased for all major product groups, especially for agricultural products (71% — from 1 billion to 1.7 billion euros). For example, in 2015, the pork export to China increased by more than twice from 432 million euros to 934 million euros.
Opening of new markets and promoting the consumption of the EU dairy products and pork are among the major topics for negotiation, which the Commissioner for Agriculture and Farming Development Phil Hogan will discuss during his ongoing visit to China and Japan. Numerous representatives of the European farming industry also accompany the Commissioner.
In addition, the Chinese market is becoming attractive for wine producers from the EU, Australia, and New Zealand. Slovenia occupies an important place within the structure of wine export from the European Union, since it has produced 85 million litres of wine for the current year. This official indicator does not account for 10–15 million litres more of wine, which were sold on the domestic market.
The increase in wine production and consumption volumes and relatively low average export price for one bottle of high quality red wine (€ 3) opens up additional opportunities for Slovenian winemakers to expand sales in China and Japan.
