A recent report from BNP Paribas in Poland shows the country's apple exports to non-EU countries dropped by 36% year-on-year in January to reach 133,000 metric tons (MT), website Farmer.pl reported.

Drawing on Eurostat data, the BNP Paribas attributed the decline to Russia's produce embargo, highlighting that in the absence of Russia from the equation there would have actually been an 87% uptick in non-EU exports for the period.

The story reported Belarus accounted for 55% of Poland's shipments outside the community, but trade with the neighboring country slowed compared to late 2014 even though year-on-year exports were up 73%.

Elsewhere, Serbia received 11,500MT more Polish apples than for the same period in 2014, while Egypt bought 3,900MT more year-on-year, the story reported.

While the analysts were not able to access internal EU export statistics for both months, in January the figure for Polish apples reached 45,000MT, up 77%.

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