Spanish leadership

Spain produced 13,20 million tons of fruit last year, a figure lower than that of 2019 (13,25 million), 2018 (14,24 million) and 2017 (13,30 million).

Its horticultural production stood at 9,92 million tons in 2020, compared to 10,11 million in 2019, 9,86 million in 2018 and 9,75 million in 2017.

Italy emerged as the second Community producer, with a total volume of 17,37 tonnes, of which 10,41 million were fruits (10,31 million in 2019) and 6,88 million vegetables (6,89 million a year earlier) .

The third place in fruit corresponded to Poland (4,3 million tons) and in vegetables to France (5,61 million tons).

42,70 billion tons

In 2020, the joint production of the 27 EU countries and the United Kingdom reached 42,70 million tonnes of fruit (42,46 million in 2019) and 50,99 million tonnes of vegetables (51,16 million in 2019).

Tomatoes for fresh and industrial (16,35 million tons), apples (10,71 million), onions (6,19 million), oranges (6,17 million), carrots (5,18 million) and pumpkins (3,37, XNUMX million) were the main fruit and vegetable products grown in Europe last year.

Negative balance

The EU trade balance was negative again in 2020 for fresh fruits and vegetables, especially due to the volume of entry from non-EU countries of bananas (6,26 million tonnes), oranges (1,12 million tonnes), pineapple (912.000 tons), table grapes (675.000 tons) and avocado (657.000 tons).

Onions (905.000 tonnes), apples (894.000 tonnes) and oranges (289.000 tonnes) were the most exported fruit and vegetable crops by Europe in 2020.

The report points out that the European fruit and vegetable sector faced three major problems last year: the weather, the uncertainty about Brexit - which resulted in a last-minute agreement - and the coronavirus pandemic.

Brexit

Regarding Brexit, he acknowledges that, despite the fact that it has resulted in the tariff-free entry of Community fruits and vegetables to the United Kingdom, EU exporting companies face new border controls and administrative burdens to materialize shipments.

Remember that the United Kingdom is the third largest importer of European fruit since, with data from 2019, around 15% of the volume of vegetable exports from the EU-27 went to the United Kingdom.

Regarding the Spanish sector, it states that its largest production is centered on oranges (3,4 million tons), mandarins (2,10 million), fresh tomatoes (1,75 million) and peppers (1,42 million); the volume of banana tops the list of entries (335.000 tons), followed by that of oranges (180.000 tons).