Spain: Cheese exports grow 129% in the last decade, with the EU and the US as the main markets

"Spain is, above all, a country of cheeses, and we have one of the largest and best cheese traditions on the international scene," says Ignacio Elola, president of the Interprofessional Lactea Organization (Inlac) and CEO of Grupo Lactalis Iberia. This message is also permeating the international arena, which is reflected in a 125% growth in exports in value between 2010 and 2020, going from the 47,430 t traded ten years ago to the current 106,700 t. For its part, growth in volume rose to 129%, to reach € 508.5 million. Here the references attached to the D.O. Manchego cheese, although goat cheese and cheeses for industrial uses have been gaining prominence in our exports. Based on the most recent data, 35,445 t of cheese were exported from January to April 2021, worth € 166.05 M, according to data from the Tax Agency, which would place this exercise in line with data from 2020. Currently, our main clients are in the European Union, the US and the UK. At the end of 2020, ten ...