December 3, 2015

 

Spanish pork exports rise 17% to 890k tonnes in 1st 3 quarters

 

 

Spain's pork exports in the nine months through September increased by 17% year-on-year to a record 890,000 tonnes, data showed.

 

Domestic production in the first nine months was also up, by 8% from last year to just under 2.9 million tonnes.

 

Exports have been running consistently higher throughout 2015, noted AHDB Pork, a division of the UK's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. 

 

Exports to other EU countries increased by 13% between January and September, with France being the largest market. Exports to that country increased by 7% with most of the pork intended for further processing.

 

Exports to Italy and Portugal were up from the previous year, by 9% and 6% respectively, while shipments to Germany declined by 9%.

 

Strong export growth was recorded for Spain's smaller markets in East Europe with shipments to Poland, Bulgaria and Romania all up by 40-50% year-on-year.

 

Trade with 3rd countries

 

Trade with third countries (countries outside of the EU) remained strong, with demand amongst some Asian markets increasing sharply. Spanish pork shipments to China increased throughout 2015, with volumes increasing by two thirds compared to 2014.

 

Purchases from South Korea also increased by 40%. However, volumes to Japan were down by 6%, as domestic demand in Japan remained subdued and production was on a steady rise, thus reducing import demand.

 

The unit price of Spanish exports for the first nine months fell 9% compared to the previous year given both the weaker EU and global markets in 2015. However, there was an increase in the total value of exports, up 6% to €1.95 billion (US$2.1 billion), given the large growth in volumes shipped.

 

 

Earlier in November pork-exporting countries US and Canada were reported to have registered declines in export volumes in the nine months through September.

 

US pork exports declined by less than 1%, or 42,000 tonnes, year on year to 1.1 million tonnes, while Canadian pork exports by 4% to 620,000 tonnes.