The EU exported €923m worth of agricultural and food products in May, up 8.8% on the same month last year. For the 12 months to May, European agri-food exports are 2.6% ahead of the previous year.

Monthly export growth was in the double digits for Japan (+19.3%), China (+10.5%) and Hong Kong (+30.3%), Russia (+19.1%) and Turkey (+21.8%), all already among the top 10 destinations for European products.

While the fastest growing export was wine, there was a 53.6% jump in monthly milk powders exports and 28.7% growth in infant foods. These can be related to strong import data from China.

Agri-food imports into the EU grew by 13.1% in May and 1.5% in the past year, with the US and Indonesia accouting for the largest increases.

While Brazil remained the top source of imports into the EU, its value fell by 5% both on monthly and annual bases as the recent meat scandal rocked the country.