Andalucía TRADE boosts the international fruit and vegetable business in key markets in America, Europe, and Asia.

 

Andalucía TRADE has concluded a successful international business meeting for the fruit and vegetable sector, held from June 25 to 27 in Almería, Seville, and Huelva. The event brought together 13 Andalusian companies with importers, distributors, and wholesalers from Italy, France, the United States, Canada, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Romania, resulting in 131 business meetings. The main objective of this strategic initiative is to open up new business opportunities for Andalusian fruit and vegetable production in high-value markets.

 

The fruit and vegetable sector in Andalusia, made up of 1.346 exporting companies, has demonstrated sustained growth, registering Record international sales of 7.155 billion euros in 2024, which represents an increase of 3,7% compared to the previous year. In the first four months of 2025, the autonomous community consolidates its position as the main national exporter, with a volume of 3.749 billion euros and a notable increase of 13,6% compared to the same period in 2024.

 

The trade mission concluded in Huelva with a visit to the Huelva cooperative Strawberry from Palos (Santa Maria de la Rabida)The international delegation of importers was received by the territorial delegate of Economy, Finance, European Funds and Industry, Energy and Mines in Huelva and the provincial manager of Andalucía TRADE, Lucia Nunez, together with the general manager of Fresón de Palos, Silvia Gómez.

 

Andalusian companies held more than 100 interviews with operators from Italy, France, the United States, Canada, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Romania.

 

During the visit, Lucía Núñez highlighted the importance of the province in this area: “Fresón de Palos is a benchmark for the berry sector, in which Huelva has consolidated its position as a national leader. The berry sector is a strategic economic sector for the province of Huelva, which closed 2024 with record export figures and, in the first four months of 2025, continued at historic levels, reaching €909 million in exports. This represents a 13,9% increase compared to the same period last year and now represents 97% of Andalusian berry exports and 77% of national exports.”. Attendees had the opportunity to tour the Fresón de Palos facilities, including its experimental farm, innovation center and handling areas, where they learned about the advanced technology applied to the selection and packaging process, such as its optical blueberry grader.

 

The program of activities began on Wednesday, June 25 in Almería, with visits to Zoi Agrícola and the holding of B2B meetings between local producers and importers. In the afternoon, the delegation visited Ecoinver and Fresh Sourcing before moving to Seville, where more business meetings and a visit to the company took place on June 26 Espalmex.

 

The Andalusian companies that participated in this meeting come from various provinces, including Almería (Fresh Sourcing, Zoi Agrícola, Startfruit Import Export and Ecoinver Bio), Cádiz (Gofruit, Mercado Montilla and Torrebreva), Granada (El Pozuelo), Huelva (Fresón de Palos), Málaga (Novedades Jiménez Díaz-Citrvs) and Seville (Citrus Disot Proexport-La Soleá Bio, Espalmex and MagallanesFresh). The organization of this initiative is co-financed by European Union funds through the Andalusian FEDER PO 2021-2027.

 

Andalusia and Huelva: Leaders in Fruit and Vegetable Exports

 

Andalusia remains the First community in sales of fruits and vegetables in Spain, representing 44% of the national total in the first four months of 2025, with a record volume of 3.749 billion euros. Almería leads the provincial ranking With 1.996 billion euros in fruit and vegetable exports, more than half of Andalusia's total (53%), and a year-on-year growth of 17,2%. Huelva is in second place with 1.012 billion euros (27%), driven by its outstanding national leadership in berries.

 

The most exported products from Andalusia are: peppers (679 million euros), followed by strawberries (548 million) and the tomatoes (430 million). The main destinations for Andalusian exports are Germany, France and the Netherlands.

 

As for red fruits, Huelva reaffirms its national leadership, reaching 909 million euros in exports in the first four months of 2025, an increase of 13,9% compared to the previous year. fresh strawberries are the main product, with 540 million euros, followed by blueberries (193 million) and raspberries (176 million). Germany, the United Kingdom and France are the main markets for Huelva's red fruits, highlighting the growth in exports to the Netherlands and Poland.