Review: International trade in animal products and the place of the European Union: main trends over the last 20 years

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the evolution of international trade in animal products over the period 2000 to 2018, using customs data from the “BACI” database. Firstly, this article presents the evolution of global trade in animal products for the top five exporting countries (in decreasing order: the European Union (EU), the United States, New Zealand, Brazil and Australia) and then for the two largest importers (China and Japan). It then looks at the world trade situation for four major animal products: poultry meat, pig meat, beef and dairy products. Animal products account for 16% of world agro-food trade; this rate has remained fairly stable throughout the period. The growing imbalance between supply and demand for animal products in Asian countries, particularly in China, is stimulating international trade to the benefit of the major exporting countries. The EU is the world's leading exporter of animal products (with 21% of the total in 2018) and the fourth importer (with 6% of the total). It is in surplus in dairy products and pig meat, but in deficit (in value) in beef and poultry meat. Dairy products, which are exported by very few countries (mainly the EU, New Zealand and the United States), account for almost a third of all trade in animal products. They are thus ahead of beef (23%), pork (12%) and poultry meat (12%). Trade in live animals remains low (5%).