September 2012 Euro area international trade in goods surplus of 9.8 bn euro 12.6 bn euro deficit for EU27

Reference: STAT/12/161 Event Date: 16/11/2012

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STAT/12/161

16 November 2012

September 2012
Euro area international trade in goods surplus of 9.8 bn euro
12.6 bn euro deficit for EU27

The first estimate for the euro area1 (EA17) trade in goods balance with the rest of the world in September 2012 gave a 9.8 bn euro surplus, compared with +1.7 bn in September 2011. The August 20122 balance was +5.2 bn, compared with -5.9 bn in August 2011. In September 2012 compared with August 2012, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 1.1% and imports by 2.7%. These data3 are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The first estimate for the September 2012 extra-EU271 trade in goods balance was a 12.6 bn euro deficit, compared with -10.9 bn in September 2011. The August 20122 balance was -13.2 bn, compared with -22.5 bn in August 2011. In September 2012 compared with August 2012, seasonally adjusted exports decreased by 1.5% and imports by 1.7%.

EU27 detailed results for January to August 2012

The EU27 deficit for energy increased (-277.0 bn euro in January-August 2012 compared with -252.5 bn in January-August 2011), as did the surplus for manufactured goods (+232.9 bn compared with +154.5 bn).

EU27 exports to most of its major partners grew in January-August 2012 compared with January-August 2011, except for India (-5%). The most notable increases were recorded for exports to Russia and South Korea (both +18%), Japan (+17%), the USA and Brazil (both +14%). As regards EU27 imports, the pattern was mixed. The largest increases were recorded for imports from the USA (+11%) and Norway (+10%), and the largest falls with India (-9%) and Japan (-5%).

The EU27 trade surplus increased with the USA (+56.1 bn euro in January-August 2012 compared with +46.1 bn in January-August 2011) and Turkey (+17.9 bn compared with +16.8 bn), but fell with Switzerland (+24.1 bn compared with +26.9 bn). The EU27 trade deficit declined with China (-95.1 bn compared with -103.7 bn), Russia (-58.2 bn compared with -64.6 bn) and Japan (-6.6 bn compared with -14.4 bn), but rose with Norway (-36.0 bn compared with -31.7 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+125.3 bn euro in January-August 2012), followed by the Netherlands (+31.0 bn) and Ireland (+29.3 bn). The United Kingdom
(-101.2 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-56.5 bn), Spain (-23.8 bn) and Greece (-10.2 bn).

EA17 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU27 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: revised

• The euro area (EA17) consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

• Compared with News Release 146/2012 of 16 October 2012, the trade balance for August 2012 has been revised from +6.6 bn euro to +5.2 bn for the EA17 and from -12.6 bn to -13.2 bn for the EU27.

• This News Release is based on data available on 12 November 2012. 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.

• 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 area, which includes some intra-EU trade.

Eurostat news releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators

EA17 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU27 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: revised

Main products - EA17 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main products – EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main trading partners - EA17 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main trading partners – EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

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

Annex - Seasonally adjusted data

Seasonally adjusted series have been calculated using a harmonised methodology. The seasonally adjusted series give a complementary view of the monthly developments in trade. Seasonally adjusted figures may not match those published by Member States due to differences in the raw data3, in the choice of seasonal adjustment model and to the use of series in national currency or in euro.

EA17 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU27 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Contribution of EU27 Member States to extra-EU27 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Seasonally adjusted data