Exports are growing and imports too
United Kingdom
Monday 02 July 2018
FJ
Exports are growing but remain well below imports (photo: bcooksonltd.co.uk).
Although UK Fruit & Vegetable exports increased in value last year, the country's imports followed the same trend.
According to DEFRA (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs) statistics in 2017, United Kingdom vegetable exports reached GBP 111 million (USD 145 million), up by 1.8% from the previous year. Fruit exports totaled GBP 155 million (USD 203 million), up by 34%.
Vegetable imports increased by 4% to GBP 2.4 billion ($3.15 billion). The 3 main vegetables imported: tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms. The majority of tomato and pepper imports came from Spain and the Netherlands, while more than half of the mushroom imports came from Ireland.
Fruit imports were valued at GBP 3.9 billion ($5.12 billion), an increase of 6.3% from 2016. The top three imported fruits are bananas (Colombia and the Dominican Republic), grapes (South Africa and Spain) and apples (France and South Africa).
source : farminguk.com