First estimate for 2005 <br>Euro-zone external trade surplus 23.4 bn euro in 2005

STAT/06/21

21 February 2006

First estimate for 2005
Euro-zone external trade surplus 23.4 bn euro in 2005
106.4 bn euro deficit for EU25

The first estimate for the euro-zone¹ trade balance with the rest of the world in December 2005 gave a 0.9 bn euro deficit against a 5.5 bn euro surplus in December 2004. The November 2005² balance was -0.9 bn, compared with +2.6 bn in November 2004. In December 2005 compared with November 2005, exports, seasonally adjusted, increased by 0.5% and imports by 3.5%.

The first estimate for December 2005 extra-EU25³ trade was a 9.7 bn euro deficit, compared with -0.7 bn in December 2004. In November 2005², the balance was -14.1 bn, compared with -8.5 bn in November 2004. In December 2005 compared with November 2005, exports, seasonally adjusted, increased by 0.8% and imports by 4.0%.

During 2005, euro-zone trade recorded a surplus of 23.4 bn euro, compared with +71.5 bn in 2004. The EU25 recorded a deficit of 106.4 bn in 2005, compared with -62.9 bn in 2004.

These data are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

EU25 January-November 2005 detailed results

The energy deficit grew strongly (-198.9 bn euro in January-November 2005 compared with -134.2 bn in January-November 2004), while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose (+92.7 bn compared with +72.8 bn). The surplus in the chemicals sector also increased (+64.0 bn compared with +58.9 bn).

Except for imports from Japan which fell (-2% in January-November 2005 compared with January-November 2004), EU25 trade flows with its major partners grew. The most notable increases were for exports to Russia and India (both +24%), South Korea (+13%) and Norway (+11%), and for imports from Russia (+32%), China (+23%), Norway (+19%) and India (+17%).

EU25 trade was characterised by an increase in the EU25 surplus with the USA (+79.7 bn euro in January-November 2005 compared with +69.7 bn in January-November 2004) and Switzerland (+14.7 bn compared with +12.0 bn). The EU25 trade deficit grew with China (-96.6 bn compared with -72.2 bn), Russia (-45.3 bn compared with -31.7 bn) and Norway (-29.3 bn compared with -22.7 bn), but fell slightly with Japan (-27.0 bn compared with
-28.7 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+149.0 bn euro in January-November 2005), followed by the Netherlands (+32.5 bn), Ireland (+31.9 bn) and Sweden (+14.8 bn). The United Kingdom (-93.4 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-67.0 bn), France (-27.7 bn) and Greece (-27.1 bn).

Euro-zone trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU25 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: Revised

1. Euro-zone: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.
2. The first estimates for November 2005 were -2.3 bn euro for the euro-zone and -14.3 bn for the EU25. See News Release 8/2006 issued on 19 January 2006.
3. Data for the 10 new Member States came from Customs declarations up to 30 April 2004. Since 1 May 2004, their intra-EU data stem from the Intrastat system.
4. This News Release is based on data available on 14 February 2006. These are provisional figures based on information provided by Member States. They are subject to frequent revision for up to two years after the month in question. Furthermore, national concepts may differ from the harmonised methodology used by Eurostat, leading to differences between figures in this release and those published nationally, both for raw data and for seasonally adjusted series.
5. Since the introduction of Intrastat for intra-EU trade on 1 January 1993, the value of dispatches has been consistently higher than that of arrivals. In theory, as dispatches are declared FOB and arrivals CIF, the value of arrivals should be slightly higher than that of dispatches. Eurostat uses dispatches as the more reliable measure of total intra-EU trade as, at aggregated levels, total dispatches has better coverage than total arrivals. Due to this divergence in intra-EU trade, and to the difficulties of interpreting figures in absolute terms at the level of individual Member States, trade balances for individual Member States must be interpreted with caution. The same caution applies to the trade balance of the euro-zone, which includes some intra-EU trade.
6. The next News Release including revised data for December 2005 and first estimates for January 2006 will be issued on 22 March 2006.

Euro-zone trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU25 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: Revised

Main products - Euro-zone - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main products - EU25 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main trading partners - Euro-zone - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main trading partners - EU25 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Member States’ total trade (intra-EU25 + extra-EU25) - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Annex - Seasonally adjusted data

Seasonally adjusted series have been calculated using one harmonised methodology. The seasonally adjusted series give a complementary view of the monthly evolution of trade. Seasonally adjusted figures may not match those published by Member States, due to differences in the raw data⁴, in the choice of seasonal adjustment model and to the use of series in national currency or in euro.

Euro-zone trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU25 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Contribution of EU25 Member States to extra-EU25 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Seasonally adjusted data


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