Eastern Europe is the main driver of growth in fruit and vegetable imports to the EU

“The Eastern part of the EU is increasing its fruit and vegetable imports much faster than the so-called ‘old EU’ countries. Taking into account the average inflation over the last five years, it becomes clear that the EU-15 is actually reducing its fruit and vegetable imports,” said Andriy Yarmak, an FAO economist, during the online training “Characteristics of the fresh fruit and vegetable market in Eastern Europe. Opportunities for Egypt and Morocco”, organized by the FAO/EBRD project for about 100 Egyptian and Moroccan exporters on October 1, 2024, EastFruit reports. In recent years, countries such as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic countries, which are the target of the next trade mission of Egyptian and Moroccan suppliers, have been increasing their fruit and vegetable imports by about 2% annually. Meanwhile, the old EU member states, which are currently the main destination for North African exporters, are reducing their imports by more than 1% ...