Agricultural exporters call for committed foreign trade policy

In view of rising foreign trade deficits in the agricultural and food sector, the industry is calling for ambitious initiatives to open up sales markets. More and more enga-ging initiatives from the BMEL house leadership are needed to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of agricultural exporters, says Jan-Bernd Stärk, deputy spokesperson of GEFA e.V., Head of Export EU-East/Third Country, Westfleisch SCE mbH, on the occasion of GEFA's Parliamentary Evening on Sept. 26, 2023.
In 2022, the foreign trade deficit of the industry amounted to more than 12 million tons, as of 31.07. die-ses year already 7.9 million tons. This deficit is particularly large for products of plant origin. The agrarian favor location Germany buys in the tendency of many years clearly more products from the foreign country than it sells, while a substantial part of the world population starves or does not supply need-covering with vital nutrients. Given the high performance and standards of the industry, a further withdrawal from the production of agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs in Germany is not expedient either for the world's food supply or from a sustainability point of view, continued Stärk.