European Food Import and Export: How the EU Buys and Sells

Europe stands on both sides of the world food trade: in 2025 the EU exported EUR 238.4 billion of agri-food products and imported a record EUR 188.6 billion of them, according to the European Commission. That two-way flow is why European food import and export describes two different jobs depending on where you are standing: sourcing European product for a market outside the bloc, or placing foreign product on European shelves.

This guide covers both directions: what the EU buys and from whom, how much of it comes from the United States, the customs and food-safety machinery a shipment clears before it reaches a European retailer, the labeling rules that stall first orders, and how to find a counterparty worth signing.

European food trade by the numbers

The EU is the world’s largest agri-food exporter, and 2025 set records on both sides of its ledger. Exports climbed to EUR 238.4 billion, a 1% increase (EUR 2.8 billion) over 2024, while imports reached EUR 188.6 billion — up 9%, or EUR 16.2 billion, growth the Commission attributes largely to rising prices rather than rising volume.

Coffee, tea, cocoa and spices remained the EU’s most imported product category in 2025 and drove most of that increase, as cocoa and coffee prices hit record levels. On the supply side, imports from Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, Viet Nam and the United States all grew across the year, while imports from Ukraine declined.

Scale is part of why the bloc matters to any exporter. Roughly 449 million people lived in the European Union on 1 January 2024 across its 27 member states, per Eurostat — one customs territory operating under one set of import rules.

How Much Food Does the EU Import from the United States?

In 2019, the EU imported more than $10 billion in agricultural products from the United States. The highest revenue-generating categories included soybeans, tree nuts, planting seeds, and prepared food. In August 2020, the EU Trade Commissioner and United States Trade Representative announced an agreement to reduce tariffs between the two governing bodies. The tariff reductions represented the first negotiated bilateral agreement in more than two decades. Reduced tariffs should spark an increase in the trading of American food products, especially those designated as organic.

The figure has moved a long way since. US agricultural exports to the European Union reached a record $14.5 billion in 2025, a 13% increase on the prior year led by corn and tree nut sales, making the EU one of the top five destinations for the $171 billion of agricultural goods the United States exported that year, according to USDA Economic Research Service data.

For a category-level view of what actually travels well in that direction, our rundown of the top wholesale food and beverage exports from the USA breaks the flow down by product type.

What the 2025 EU–US framework changed

Tariffs between the two blocs were renegotiated again in 2025. Under the joint framework agreed in August 2025 and in force since 1 July 2026, the EU eliminated tariffs on imports of US industrial goods and improved market access for certain non-sensitive agri-food products, while the United States applies a single all-inclusive ceiling of 15% across most sectors of EU exports, with zero or near-zero rates on a handful of product groups including aircraft, generic pharmaceuticals and cork, per the European Commission. A sunset clause sets the arrangement to end in 2029, so it gets reviewed rather than running indefinitely.

Rates change, and they change per commodity code rather than per country, so treat any headline number as a starting point and confirm the classification for your own goods before pricing a shipment. Our explainer on whether the E.U. charges tariffs on imported U.S. products covers that lookup.

Why one market changed the sourcing math

Before the formation of the European Union (EU), sellers of American Better-For-You food products had to complete transactions with individual buyers from many different countries. The formation of the EU simplified business transactions for American organic food manufacturers, and the amount of food the EU imports from America is slowly growing. For buyers of American healthy food products, a convenient B2B eCommerce platform established by Grovara has simplified the buying process.

That simplification is real, though it pays to be precise about its limits. Customs procedure, tariff classification and food-safety controls are harmonised, so goods released into free circulation in one member state move freely to the other 26. Labeling language, national registration formalities, excise duties and VAT rates are not. The border work happens once; the commercial work of a European rollout still happens country by country.

Importing into the EU: what has to happen before a pallet moves

Selling into Europe from outside it means somebody inside the bloc takes legal responsibility for the goods. The Commission’s guide for importing goods states the requirement plainly: an EU importer must be established in the EU as a company or permanent business establishment and registered for VAT purposes. That importer is your distributor, your European subsidiary, or an appointed importer of record, and which one it is shapes your control, margin and speed to shelf for years.

Registration and customs

• EORI number. Traders established in the EU customs territory need an Economic Operators Registration and Identification number to lodge a customs declaration, and it is used as the identification number in all customs procedures across the Union (Access2Markets).
• Entry summary declaration. Filed before the goods physically arrive, ahead of the full declaration.
• Customs declaration. Lodged on the Single Administrative Document, with the consignment held in temporary storage under customs supervision until it is released.
• Duty and VAT. Import tariffs may be due when the product enters, and VAT applies to goods sold on the EU market including imported ones. VAT-registered firms can generally reclaim import VAT as input tax, though it still lands as a cash-flow line at the border.
• Proof of origin. Where a trade agreement offers a preferential rate, the claim depends on the product meeting the applicable rules of origin and on the supplier providing a certificate or declaration of origin. Our certificate of origin guide covers what that document has to contain.

Food-safety controls at the border

Food, feed, plants and products of animal origin clear a second layer on top of customs. Regulation (EU) 2017/625, the Official Controls Regulation, has applied since 14 December 2019 and routes regulated consignments through designated border control posts, where all consignments undergo documentary checks and then identity and physical checks at a frequency set by risk, per the European Commission.

The notification is digital. A Common Health Entry Document (CHED) is filed in TRACES, the Commission’s online animal and plant health certification platform, and its use for animals and goods entering the European Union has been mandatory since 14 December 2019. More than 5.4 million official documents moved through TRACES in 2024, across more than 90 countries and over 113,000 users, according to the European Commission. Because the CHED is a prior notification, it belongs in the plan before the vessel sails.

Two rules that catch first-time exporters

Novel foods need authorisation before sale, not after. Under the EU’s novel food rules, a novel food is one that had not been consumed to a significant degree by humans in the EU before 15 May 1997, and pre-market authorisation is required. The category is broader than the name suggests — the Commission’s own examples include chia seeds, noni fruit juice, krill oil, and UV-treated foods such as milk, bread and mushrooms. A product that has been unremarkable in its home market for a decade can still be a novel food in Europe.

Organic claims run on a separate certificate. Product sold as organic in the EU needs an electronic certificate of inspection completed through TRACES, and under the US–EU equivalence arrangement it must be issued by the USDA-accredited certifying agent at the moment the consignment leaves the US port of export, per the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Shipments that arrive without correct documentation risk being refused entry, seized, or destroyed by port authorities. The arrangement covers crops, wild crops, livestock and processed products, and it excludes aquatic animals and salt.

Labeling is where first shipments stall

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 governs food information to consumers, and it is prescriptive in ways an American or Asian label rarely satisfies straight off the production line. Article 9 makes twelve categories of information mandatory on prepacked food: the name of the food, the list of ingredients, allergens from the regulation’s Annex II, the quantity of certain ingredients, net quantity, a best-before or use-by date, special storage or use conditions, the name and address of the responsible food business operator, country of origin or place of provenance, instructions for use where needed, actual alcoholic strength above 1.2% by volume, and a nutrition declaration (European Commission).

Three of those requirements cause most of the rework:

• Language. Mandatory food information must appear in a language easily understood by consumers of the member state where the food is marketed, and member states may require one or more official Union languages of their territory. One English-only label does not cover the bloc (European Commission).
• Legibility. Mandatory particulars carry a minimum font x-height of 1.2 mm, relaxed to 0.9 mm only where the largest surface of the pack measures under 80 cm². Artwork that passes review in other markets often fails here, and the fix is a new print run.
• Whose name goes on the pack. Under Article 8(1) of the regulation, the operator responsible for food information is the one under whose name the food is marketed — or, where that operator is not established in the Union, the importer into the Union market (EUR-Lex). Your European partner carries that responsibility, which is one more reason to know exactly who you are appointing.

Relabeling is a production decision rather than a freight decision, so it belongs in the cost of the first order. Our walkthrough of exporting your food or beverage product to Europe goes further into sequencing that work.

Importing from Europe: what buyers outside the EU should check

Buying European product for a market outside the bloc is a different problem with a similar shape. Given that the EU is the world’s largest agri-food exporter, supply depth is rarely the constraint; whether a particular producer has ever shipped into your market, and can produce the documents your customs and health authorities will ask for, usually is.

Five things are worth establishing before a first purchase order:

1. Export experience in your market specifically. A supplier who trades comfortably across the EU single market has not necessarily cleared a third-country border. Ask which non-EU markets they currently ship to, and how recently.
2. Document capability. Health certificates, a certificate of free sale and origin documentation are routinely demanded by importing countries. Our certificate of free sale guide explains what the document proves and who issues it, and the wider stack is laid out in our export documents checklist.
3. Shelf life on arrival, not on departure. Ocean transit, clearance and your own distribution can consume a meaningful share of a product’s stated life. Agree a minimum remaining shelf life at delivery and put the number in the contract.
4. Incoterms and who carries the risk. An ex-works quote and a delivered-duty-paid quote differ by who actually runs the export, so price the term deliberately rather than inheriting it from a template.
5. Label adaptation for your market. The regulatory asymmetry runs in both directions. An EU-compliant label is not automatically compliant anywhere else, and the artwork lead time is yours to absorb.

How to vet a counterparty on either side

Whichever direction you are trading, the failure mode looks the same: a partner who read as credible in an email thread and then could not perform at the border. Confirm legal standing first — on the EU side a real company registration, a VAT number and an EORI number are all verifiable rather than merely assertable. Ask for references in your own category, because a distributor who moves ambient goods well is not necessarily the right home for chilled or short-dated product. Then establish who holds any product registration in the destination market and what happens to it if the relationship ends, since the party holding a registration effectively holds your market access.

Bring evidence to the conversation as well. Distributors and retail buyers judge a new line on how fast it sells against the margin it earns and the shelf space it displaces, so a one-page pack with sell-through data, target margins and proof of category demand does more work than a long deck. The general playbook for that search is our guide for U.S. companies looking for distributors, with the Europe-specific layer in US companies looking for distributors in Europe.

Tap Into the Growing Grovara Marketplace

A directory hands you a list and leaves the due diligence with you. A vetted wholesale marketplace moves that burden onto the platform: partners are verified before they can transact, and discovery, ordering, compliance documents, payments and logistics run in one place instead of across a dozen email threads and a shared spreadsheet. Grovara connects 10K+ brands and buyers across 60+ countries on that model, with Scout AI™ automating the document and order work that otherwise absorbs a trade team. You can browse the wholesale product catalog to see what is already export-ready.

Digital technology has transformed the import-export industry. You no longer have to meet with several potential distributors in person or discuss business over the phone. The Grovara way of purchasing American Better-for-You food products involves joining an eCommerce platform that allows you to complete deals from the comfort of your home or office. Our team of import experts thoroughly screens each distributor to ensure you partner with the most reputable American organic food brands, such as:

Big Spoon Roasters – Produces made-from-scratch nut butters and snack bars from ingredients sourced from American organic farms.

Joolies – Cultivated to deliver healthy nutrients, this organic farm produces sweet Medjool dates and date syrups.

Chickapea – Purveyor of plant-based pasta made from organic chickpeas and lentils.

Waterloo Sparkling Water – Stored in BPA-free lined cans, the natural purified sparkling water contains no GMO ingredients.

Join the Grovara Platform

Since 2010, Grovara has offered buyers of American organic food products a streamlined platform for gaining access to natural foods that are not available domestically. The easy-to-use eCommerce platform consolidates every step of the buying process, including product discovery, order processing, payment facilitation, and the accurate fulfillment of product orders. Grovara, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, matches EU buyers with American Better-for-You food brands.

The formation of the EU and the emergence of the Grovara platform have increased sales for American food brands and opened markets for members of the EU that want healthy foods to match rising consumer demand. We offer unique tools to help EU buyers order American healthy food products. For example, our proprietary tool called Pallet Builder allows you to complete a transaction without calculating dimensions while you add bulk products.

Grovara offers a streamlined eCommerce platform to consummate our EU customers’ deals with the most popular American Better-for-You food brands. Our import-export specialists do all the heavy lifting, which gives you more time to fine-tune your business strategies. We also make it easy for you to join the Grovara B2B eCommerce platform. You do not pay any onboarding fees to start enjoying the many benefits associated with leveraging technology for your import business.

Learn more about Grovara by contacting us online or calling 215-207-0967.