In the two first quarters of this year, exports of food of animal origin decreased by 14% compared to the same period last year, and a 25% decrease was recorded at the beginning of 2022. In the first six months of this year, total exports of fish and fish products, milk and dairy were less than in the same period last year, with 112,000 tons of products of animal origin being exported this year. Exports of meat, some dairy products, egg products and Lithuanian honey increased significantly, according to the VMVT.
According to the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, the overall trends in Lithuanian exports of agricultural and food products remain positive: there have been an increase in exports to EU countries, more and more novel food groups are being exported, as well as a growing list of countries importing Lithuanian products. Lithuanian producers transported agricultural and food products to more than 130 countries around the world in the beginning of the year.
The second quarter of the year is more optimistic. I believe this shows that business is adapting, is active in new markets and is expanding its network of partners. We have been able to reach an agreement in Taiwan for the approval of export authorizations for Lithuanian eggs, dairy and fishery products in the near future. We hope that the harmonisation of authorisations for beef and other meat products to Taiwan will not take long and we continue negotiations on new export certificates with 23 other countries, according to Mantas Sta kevi ius, Director of the VMVT, for the first half of 2022.
Exports of milk and dairy products are estimated to be 50,000 tons this half-year, compared to over 56,000 tons in the same quarter last year. More butter over 1,000 tonnes cheese produced over 16,000 tons last year was more than 8,000 tonnes and over 1,600 tonnes were exported this year, compared to the first half of last year. The markets importing dairy products are stable, namely Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Israel, Morocco, Indonesia and the USA.