Horticultural shipments from Latin America grow 20%, reaching 25% of Spanish imports

Fruit and vegetable shipments from Latin America grow by 20%, reaching 25% of Spanish imports

A quarter of the Spanish import of fruit and vegetables comes from Latin America. A geographical area that between 2016 and 2020 has increased by 20% the volume of shipments to Spain -17% in value-, according to data from the Department of Customs and Special Taxes processed by the Fepex federation.

23/04/2021

Spanish imports

In 2020, Spain imported 759.297 tons of fruit and vegetables from Latin America for a value of 802 million euros, which represents 26% of the total Spanish imports of this sector and 40% of the extra-community imports it receives .

Latin American growth

"Latin American countries play an increasingly important role in the Spanish import market and the evolution has been positive in recent years," sources from the main Spanish fruit and vegetable organization said in a statement.

Regarding products, the main shipments are banana, pineapple and avocado, with volumes exceeding 100.000 tons.

In tons

Costa Rica (243.740 tons in 2020), Peru (149.475 tons) and Brazil (130.684 tons) were the main suppliers.

In 2020, total Spanish imports of fresh fruits and vegetables increased 3,5% in volume compared to 2019 and 6% in value, standing at 3,4 million tons and 3.118 million euros.

Of the 3.118 million euros in 2020, 63,5% of the value came from non-EU countries, standing at 1.983 million euros, and the remaining 36,5% came from the EU, with 1.135 million euros, according to the Federation Spanish Association of Producers Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (Fepex).