Trade agreements boost EU agri-food sector: study

Trade agreements can help increase sales and support jobs in the agri-food sector of the European Union (EU), a new study released on Monday shows.

Carried out on behalf of the European Commission by the independent consultancy Copenhagen Economics, the study looked at the impact on exports of agri-food products of the three trade agreements: the Association Agreement with Mexico, the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea and the trade agreements with Switzerland.

The study finds that trade agreements have helped to boost EU agricultural exports and have supported jobs in the agri-food sector and other sectors of the economy.

"These three agreements alone have increased EU agri-food exports by more than 1 billion euros and have raised value-added in the agri-food sector by 600 million euros. Just as importantly, this increase in exports has supported thousands of jobs in total across the EU, most of which in the agri-food sector, including in primary agriculture," said Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

He concluded "These figures are clear evidence that ambitious and balanced trade deals work for European food and farming."

"Trade deals, done right, are a force for good for our farmers and food producers. This study also gives important input on how we can continue to cut unnecessary red tape and get rid of barriers in our trade negotiations going forward," EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom added.

The study also shows that the agreements contributed to increased trade in both directions, with increased EU exports and increased imports of products from these three countries, giving EU consumers and business greater access to agri-food products.

The study underlines the importance of closely following the trade negotiations of the EU's main competitors to make sure that the EU does not fall behind in access conditions to important markets for agri-food products.

Meanwhile, the study emphasizes the importance of EU promotion and information campaigns in helping EU exporters access new markets and grow their businesses in existing markets.

The EU executive arm said it has significantly increased its promotion budget and the EU Commissioner Hogan has already carried out high-level visits to six countries, namely Colombia, Mexico, China, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia, to promote EU agri-food products and offering EU companies and organisations the chance to find new business opportunities there.

The European Commission said the next such visit will come in May to Canada, which has just reached a free trade agreement with the EU.

EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom will also visit Canada in March, as well as Singapore and Mexico later in the spring.

According to EU statistics, EU agri-food exports reached record high in 2016, with 130.7 billion euros in total.

The biggest increases in annual exports were to the United States and China. The agri-food sector accounted for 7.5 percent of total EU exports in goods in 2016, while 6.6 percent of imported goods are agri-food products. With a surplus of 18.8 billion euros, the agri-food sector contributed almost half of the overall surplus of the EU in merchandise trade, which stood at 39.3 billion euros in 2016. Enditem