The latest agri-food trade report published by the European Commission showed that the EU agri-food trade surplus increased by 15% in September 2024, reaching €6 billion. This marks a significant increase from the previous month. The EU surplus reached €50.6 billion between January and September 2024, remaining stable compared to the same period in 2023.

Exports

EU exports reached €19.6 billion in September 2024, an increase of 5% on the previous month and 3% higher than in September 2023. Since January, cumulative EU exports reached €175.5 billion, 2% higher than on the same period in 2023. The value of EU exports of olives and olive oil increased significantly, by €2 billion (54%), due to increased prices. Similarly, EU exports of cocoa products also increased driven by higher prices. By contrast, EU cereals exports had the largest reduction in value, with a decrease of €1.7 billion in value (‑15%), explained by a reduction of world prices. Exported volumes remain high with 1.6 million tonnes of additional wheat exported compared with September last year.

Exports to China had the largest reduction, with a decrease of EUR 878 million (‑8%) compared to 2023. This is explained in particular by reductions in exports of pigmeat, cereals, and dairy products.

Imports

EU imports remained stable month-on-month in September and reached €13.6 billion. Cumulative imports between January and September reached €124.9 billion, 4% higher compared to 2023. The value of cocoa imports increased significantly compared to 2023, as world prices kept increasing. Imports of fruit and nuts also grew by €1.4 billion (+8%), mainly due to increased prices. Conversely, imports of oilseeds and cereals decreased, mainly due to reduced prices. Imports from Côte d'Ivoire had the largest increase between January and September compared to 2023 (+EUR 1.7 billion, +57%), driven by the increase of cocoa prices. Imports from Nigeria also increased significantly, by 150% (+€761 million) for the same reason.

Shipments to China have become the main driver of pig exports from Russia in 2024, Yuri Kovalev, Director General of the National Union of Pig Farmers, said at the Agrotrends 2024–2025 conference. Currently, China is among the top three buyers of Russian pig products; by the end of the year, shipments there could approach 50 thousand tons, and total Russian pork exports could reach 300 thousand tons, the union predicts.

“Our exports continue to grow at a good pace. Last year, we reached approximately 240 thousand tons. This is approximately 5% of our production. But this is the maximum we could achieve in open markets. But starting this year, China has opened up for us. And so you can see that China is providing us with all of this year’s growth,” Yuri Kovalev said.

Defra has published new ammonia emission factors for pig and poultry farms, which, according to AHDB’s Zanita Markham, will save British pig farmers more than £15m.

The updated figures follow AHDB’s multi-year ammonia monitoring trial, the findings of which have been incorporated into the Environment Agency’s (EA) updated ammonia emission factors.

They show a significant reduction on previous emissions factors, in some cases by half, which will help farmers who require an environmental permit and should also support planning applications.

All permitted producers – indoor pig units with more than 2,000 pigs above 30kg, or more than 750 sows – are required to meet the best available technique (BAT) associated emission levels (AELs), which are benchmark levels for farms to achieve. A new set of BAT conclusions, published in 2017, included limits on emission levels for ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus.

Zanita, AHDB’s projects and engagements relationships manager (pork), said it was clear that by using the older emission factors (EFs), which were very outdated and not representative of current production, that UK pig farms were not going to reach compliance with the BAT AELs.

“But the AHDB project provided updated data on the performance of different types of modern pig housing and evidence to support revising the ammonia emission factors for UK pig housing. The data we gathered showed emissions on pig farms today are generally much lower, and in some cases have halved,” she said.

With the changes to EFs, most units are already compliant with the new target emissions levels,” she added. “For example, factors for finishers on straw are now an average of 1.88kg of ammonia per animal place per year compared with the outdated figure of 2.97kg.”