July 10, 2018

Spain pork exports continue upward trend

Spain's pork exports continued its upward trend, growing 8% year-on-year to 537,800 tonnes in the first four months.

The export volume is more than double the volume recorded a decade ago, AHDB Pork reports.

It said growth was primarily driven by rising domestic production, which increased 6% year-on-year in the first quarter to 1.2 million tonnes.

It added that growth in export volumes has also been facilitated by lower average unit prices, which declined 7% year-on-year for fresh/frozen pork in January-April. This meant the value of these exports remained virtually unchanged on a year earlier, at €1.17 billion.

Another primary driver of the overall export growth was shipments of pork to the EU, which were 9% (+28,300 tonnes) higher year-on-year in the first four months, based on figures from GlobalData. This also meant that the EU's share of trade increased to 63%, from 62% last year, according to the pork division of the UK body Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board.

Strong sales to the Czech Republic were particularly recorded, which almost doubled (+14,400 tonnes) and to Portugal, which were up by a third (+9,000 tonnes).

Outside the EU, South Korea recorded strong growth (+9,000 tonnes), while shipments to China, formerly the largest buyer, were down 8% (-7,000 tonnes).