BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's agri-food exports rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to 137.9 billion euros (170.58 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017 with a widening surplus, the European Commission said in its latest monthly trade report on Monday.
Agri-food exports to the United States and Russia grew 6 percent and 16 percent respectively, as well as to several Asian markets. China, Japan and South Korea imported 5 percent, 11 percent and 13 percent more of EU agri-food.
EU's agri-food imports also increased but at a slower pace than exports to reach 117.4 billion euros.
The surplus is 20.5 billion euros, a growth of 9 percent over last year and the 8th consecutive year of agricultural trade surplus.
Notably, EU's agri-food imports from the U.S. dropped 2.1 percent to 10.98 billion euros, while its exports to the U.S. rose 5.9 percent to 21.95 billion euros. That makes EU's agri-food trade balance with the U.S. at 10.99 billion euros, or more than half of its total surplus. (1 euro = 1.237 U.S. dollars)
