Greek Fruit and Vegetables Export Value Reduced by 4% in 2014

The value of Greek fruit and vegetable exports has been slightly decreased between January and October 2014 and totaled some 765 million euros, almost 4% less compared to the same period last year. Despite the year’s good start, which came with an increase in the value of Greek products, and a 7.8% and 8.1% increase in the volume of fruit and vegetables, respectively, the Russian embargo imposed in European exports in August has finally damaged the value of Greek exports.

The value of exports appeared to be on an encouraging rise at the beginning of the year, although the situation dramatically changed during the second half of 2014, when the Russian Federation imposed an embargo on European Union products, as an answer to the measures taken against it by Europeans due to the Ukrainian Crisis. This resulted in a 7.1% drop in value and a 14.7% drop in production volume, with exports dropping by 13% in September and 11% in October compared to the same months in 2013.

Despite the Russian embargo though, the Greek exports increased by 3.5%, with Russia importing about 75,708 tons of produce worth 72,813,207 euros, followed by Serbia, FYROM and Albania, although the major factor for the 4% decease of turnover was that retail prices were significantly reduced. Characteristically, the exports to Russia in the ten-month period of 2014 were reduced by 31.1% in volume and by 35.1% in value.

At the same time, some 213 tons of fresh vegetables, worth almost 137 million euros, and some 207 tons of fruit, worth almost 221.5 million euros, were imported to Greece. The fruit and vegetables imported to the country were bananas, apples, pineapples, lemons, tomatoes and potatoes.