Trade agreements can help increase sales and support jobs in the EU agri-food sector, a new study shows.
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Trade agreements have helped to boost EU agricultural exports and have supported jobs in the agri-food sector and other sectors of the economy, according to a new independent study carried out on behalf of the European Commission.
Trade agreements with three countries – Mexico, South Korea and Switzerland – were studied in detail.
The agreement between the EU and Mexico added €105 million to EU agri-food exports in 2013, three years after both sides had removed all the trade barriers they committed to remove in the agreement.
Most of these were processed food and beverages. Additional imports of €316 million in the same year were mostly primary products.
The study also identifies potentials for the EU agri-sector in further eliminating current tariffs and barriers.
This is now being tackled in the negotiations to modernise the EU Mexico agreement.
Although not yet fully implemented, the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) added €439 million in additional EU agri-food exports in 2015 (the latest year for which data is available), mostly in the form of primary products and commodities.
Additional imports of €116 million in the same year were mostly of processed food and beverages.
The EU-Switzerland trade agreements on agricultural products and processed agricultural products together added €532 million to EU agri-food exports in 2010, three years after they were fully implemented.
Most of this was in the form of processed food and beverages. Additional imports of €1.17 million were mostly in the form of primary products. ■
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