Food production values in Poland reach new highs.
On Tuesday, 25th August, Santander Bank Polska released a snapshot analysis of Poland’s annual food production from 2010 to 2018/19. The analysis showed:
- Food production values in in 2018 reached €57b EUR – 57% higher than 2010 (€35b)
- A surplus of food exports / imports of €10.5b – 400% higher than 2010 (€2.6b)
- Total export values jumped 135% from €12.6b in 2010 to €29.6b in 2019
- Annual exports to EU member states reached €23.7b
Santander noted that increased food exports increase Poland’s exposure to external market conditions and is one reason why Warsaw is keeping a close watch on the implementation of EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Green Deal, and the EU ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy.
It may surprise many to learn that Poland is the EU’s largest producer of Oats, Apples, Rye and Poultry, whilst also being a major contributor of Eggs, Sugar Beet, Pork, Canola, and Beef.
The total farm labour force in Poland is 3.1m people, equivalent to 1.65m FTEs, however the domestic industry in Poland increasingly relies on seasonal workers from non-EU locations to fill short falls in domestic labour supply. Regardless, food production is hugely important to the Polish economy and the EU’s long term food security.
Back to the Santander analysis. We were provided with some interesting data about Santander customer card transactions for the first few weeks of August whereby:
…expenditure in catering establishments not only returned to pre-pandemic levels, but are, on an average weekly basis, more than 43% higher than a year ago.
It was also reported that year to date spending (Jan – Aug 2020) on domestic food consumption is trending 51.7 % higher than the same period in 2019.
So whilst the communist days of ration books and black market trade are distant memories for most, strong domestic demand, growing exports, and further inflation pressures (as forecast) will bring some challenges with regard to affordability of staples as the economy rebounds in 2021.
For more data on Polish food production, I recommend exploring the European Commission (EC) dashboard – Agricultural_Markets or this EC fact sheet on Poland.
For Australian readers:
The gross value of Australian agriculture in 2018 / 19 was $62.2b AUD (€37.8b). An excellent report on Australian Agricultural Trade by Rural Bank shows the value of Australian exports in 18 / 19 was $50.7b (€30.8b), import values were $20b AUD (€12.2b), resulting in a trade import / export surplus of $29.9b (€18.2b) which by comparison is 73% higher than Poland.