Andalusia’s agri-food exports reached 7,756 million euros in the first seven months of 2021, its best historical record for a January-July period since comparable data has been available (1995), thanks to year-on-year growth of 7.3%. This is a strategic sector, which will contribute more than 5,000 million euros of the positive foreign trade balance to the regional economy in 2021. This significant increase is due to the remarkable activity of the Andalusian agro-industry, which is growing not only in sales but also with a strong increase in the number of exporting companies, up 19.8% year-on-year to 3,522, according to Extenda data.
In this context, Andalusia reinforces its leadership in food and beverage exports from Spain, with nearly one in four euros (22.6%) of total national sales (34,325 million), ahead of Catalonia (21.2%). By product, in these seven months of the year, new growth in exports of olive oil in international markets stands out, 14% over the same period of 2020, and now accounts for 19.4% of the total agri-food total, 1,507 million. Sales are driven by the increase in demand from two of its main destination countries: Italy (+44%) and Portugal (+49%).
In the first seven months of 2021, sales have grown in eight of the top ten chapters exported by the Andalusian agri-food sector, which continue to be led mainly by vegetables, fruit, olive oil, canned fruit and vegetables, fish and seafood, live plants and other fats and oils. These last three items are the ones that have grown the most in 2021 in the Top 10.
In fifth place are frozen meat and offal, with 187 million euros, and in ninth place are various food preparations, with 113 million euros. Closing the ranking, in tenth place, is cereals, with 104 million euros.
Europe is the main destination for Andalusian agriculture, with exports to its main markets continuing to increase in the period January-July 2021. Germany continues to be the leading destination market for Andalusian agri-food exports in the first seven months of 2021, with 1,471 million euros and 19% of the total, an increase of 7.3% compared to January-July 2020. It is followed by France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Portugal. In seventh place is the first non-EU destination, the United States, with 459 million euros and 5.9%, up 5.6%. This was followed by Poland, China, and Belgium.
International sales have been led by Andalusian exporting companies, which have also grown in number by 19.8% year-on-year, reaching 3,522. Likewise, regular exporting companies, those that have been selling abroad for more than four years, also increased by 1.1% in the first seven months of 2021 to 1,679, 48% of the total, which gives an idea of the high level of internationalisation of Andalusian agribusiness.
