Oranges: Spain is widely the No. 1 country in Europe for production and export

According to a recent EUROSTAT study, in 2017 there were 270 000 hectares devoted to the production of oranges in the European Union. Only one country, Spain had more than half of these areas (140 000 hectares or 52% of the EU total). Italy had 80,000 hectares or 31% and Greece 30,000 hectares or 11% of the EU total.

 

 

 

In 2017 the EU Member States harvested 6.2 million tonnes of oranges. Spain accounted for more than half of the harvested production (3.4 million tonnes of oranges, or 54% of the EU total), followed by Italy (1.5 million tonnes, 25%) and Greece (1 million tonnes, 16%).

 

 

 

With regard to the trade in oranges: almost 2.7 million tonnes of oranges, valued at € 1.9 billion, were exported by the EU Member States. Nearly 90% or 2.4 million tonnes were traded within the EU. Spain exported the largest volume (1.6 million tonnes of oranges exported in 2017, or 61% of the total exports of the EU Member States).

 

 

 

The EU imported 1.1 million tonnes of oranges worth 697 million euros. These oranges came mainly from South Africa (451,000 tonnes, 43% of total extra-EU imports of oranges in 2017) and Egypt (281,000 tonnes, 27%). But also Morocco (121 000 tonnes, 12%), Argentina (39 200 tonnes, 4%), Zimbabwe (32 700 tonnes, 3%), Brazil (28 600 tonnes, 3%) and Uruguay (26,300 tonnes, 3%).