STAT/10/198

17 December 2010

October 2010
Euro area external trade surplus 5.2 bn euro
7.4 bn euro deficit for EU27

The first estimate for the euro area1 (EA16) trade balance with the rest of the world in October 2010 gave a 5.2 bn euro surplus, compared with +4.8 bn in October 2009. The September 20102 balance was +2.6 bn, compared with +1.4 bn in September 2009. In October 2010 compared with September 2010, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.1%, and imports by 1.3%.

The first estimate for the October 2010 extra-EU271 trade balance was a 7.4 bn euro deficit, compared with
-6.4 bn in October 2009. In September 20102 the balance was -11.8 bn, compared with -10.5 bn in September 2009. In October 2010 compared with September 2010, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.1%, while imports fell by 3.0%.

These data3 are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

EU27 detailed results for January to September 2010

The EU27 deficit increased for energy (-214.5 bn euro in January-September 2010 compared with -172.8 bn in January-September 2009), while the surplus for manufactured goods rose (+124.9 bn compared with +112.2 bn).

EU27 trade with all its major partners grew in January-September 2010 compared with January-September 2009. The most notable increases were recorded for exports to Brazil (+53%), China (+39%) and Turkey (+36%), and for imports from Russia (+37%), China (+30%) and India (+28%).

The EU27 trade surplus increased with the USA (+52.8 bn euro in January-September 2010 compared with +31.8 bn in January-September 2009), Switzerland (+13.8 bn compared with +10.2 bn) and Turkey (+13.1 bn compared with +5.8 bn). The EU27 trade deficit increased with China (-122.2 bn compared with -97.8 bn), Russia (-52.1 bn compared with -35.0 bn), Norway (-26.8 bn compared with -24.5 bn) and South Korea (-8.9 bn compared with -8.6 bn). The deficit remained stable with Japan (-15.9 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+113.5 bn euro in January-September 2010), followed by Ireland (+31.8 bn), the Netherlands (+30.6 bn) and Belgium (+14.1 bn). The United Kingdom (-84.8 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-46.3 bn), Spain (-39.0 bn), Italy (-19.2 bn), Greece (-17.7 bn) and Portugal (-14.6 bn).


EA16 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Flows / Oct 09 / Oct 10 / Growth / Sep 09 / Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Oct 09 / Jan-Oct 10 / Growth
Extra-EA16 exports / 115.4 / 138.7 / 20% / 112.2 / 137.3 / r / 22% / 1 054.0 / 1 259.3 / 19%
Extra-EA16 imports / 110.6 / 133.5 / 21% / 110.8 / 134.7 / r / 22% / r / 1 038.4 / 1 255.9 / 21%
Extra-EA16 trade balance / 4.8 / 5.2 / 1.4 / 2.6 / r / 15.6 / 3.4
Intra-EA16 dispatches4 / 119.2 / 130.9 / 10% / 117.2 / 131.8 / r / 12% / r / 1 078.3 / 1 216.4 / 13%

EU27 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Flows / Oct 09 / Oct 10 / Growth / Sep 09 / Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Oct 09 / Jan-Oct 10 / Growth
Extra-EU27 exports / 98.0 / 120.6 / 23% / 94.2 / 119.9 / 27% / 900.4 / 1 102.7 / 22%
Extra-EU27 imports / 104.4 / 128.1 / 23% / 104.7 / 131.8 / r / 26% / 993.0 / 1 219.4 / 23%
Extra-EU27 trade balance / -6.4 / -7.4 / -10.5 / -11.8 / r / -92.7 / -116.7
Intra-EU27 dispatches4 / 202.8 / 227.3 / 12% / 200.7 / 228.9 / r / 14% / r / 1 822.7 / 2 088.2 / 15%

r: revised

1.  The euro area (EA16) includes Belgium, Germany, 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.

2.  Compared to News Release 171/2010 of 15 November 2010, the trade balance for September 2010 has been revised from +2.9 bn euro to +2.6 bn for the euro area and from -11.7 bn to -11.8 bn for the EU27.

3.  This News Release is based on data available on 13 December 2010. 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.

4.  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.

Issued by:
Eurostat Press Office
Tim ALLEN
Tel: +352-4301-35 098

Eurostat news releases on the internet:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat / For further information on data:
Gilberto GAMBINI
Tel: +352-4301-35 806
Karo NUORTILA
Tel: +352-4301-34 802

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


EA16 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Flows / Mar 10 / Apr 10 / May 10 / Jun 10 / Jul 10 / Aug 10
Extra-EA16 exports / 135.5 / r / 121.0 / r / 122.3 / 138.0 / r / 138.0 / 120.4 / r
Extra-EA16 imports / 131.5 / r / 121.0 / r / 126.1 / r / 136.3 / r / 131.6 / r / 125.4 / r
Extra-EA16 trade balance / 3.9 / r / 0.0 / r / -3.8 / r / 1.7 / r / 6.4 / r / -5.0
Intra-EA16 dispatches / 132.0 / r / 121.1 / r / 119.9 / r / 131.8 / r / 124.8 / r / 104.2

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

Flows / Mar 10 / Apr 10 / May 10 / Jun 10 / Jul 10 / Aug 10
Extra-EU27 exports / 116.7 / 106.2 / 107.0 / r / 122.8 / 124.2 / 107.4 / r
Extra-EU27 imports / 124.5 / 117.5 / r / 122.0 / r / 132.9 / r / 130.0 / r / 125.1
Extra-EU27 trade balance / -7.8 / -11.3 / r / -15.0 / r / -10.1 / r / -5.8 / r / -17.7
Intra-EU27 dispatches / 224.8 / r / 205.7 / r / 205.5 / r / 225.9 / r / 212.0 / r / 186.4 / r

r: revised

Main products - EA16 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EA16 exports / EA16 imports / Trade balance
Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10
Primary goods: / 127.0 / 154.6 / 22% / 285.1 / 356.6 / 25% / -158.1 / -201.9
Food & drink / 68.0 / 76.2 / 12% / 63.0 / 66.6 / 6% / 5.0 / 9.5
Raw materials / 21.2 / 27.6 / 30% / 36.2 / 53.7 / 48% / -15.0 / -26.1
Energy / 37.8 / 50.9 / 34% / 185.9 / 236.2 / 27% / -148.0 / -185.4
Manufactured goods: / 783.0 / 934.3 / 19% / 621.5 / 744.9 / 20% / 161.5 / 189.4
Chemicals / 166.1 / 199.5 / 20% / 100.5 / 120.0 / 19% / 65.6 / 79.5
Machinery & vehicles / 382.9 / 461.1 / 20% / 289.9 / 349.4 / 21% / 93.0 / 111.7
Other manuf’d goods / 234.1 / 273.7 / 17% / 231.2 / 275.5 / 19% / 2.9 / -1.8
Other / 28.6 / 31.6 / 11% / 21.1 / 21.0 / -1% / 7.5 / 10.7
Total / 938.6 / 1 120.6 / 19% / 927.8 / 1 122.4 / 21% / 10.8 / -1.9

Main products – EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU27 exports / EU27 imports / Trade balance
Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10
Primary goods: / 107.0 / 137.8 / 29% / 303.7 / 380.0 / 25% / -196.6 / -242.2
Food & drink / 45.7 / 54.3 / 19% / 55.1 / 58.5 / 6% / -9.4 / -4.2
Raw materials / 20.3 / 27.8 / 37% / 34.7 / 51.2 / 48% / -14.4 / -23.4
Energy / 41.0 / 55.8 / 36% / 213.8 / 270.3 / 26% / -172.8 / -214.5
Manufactured goods: / 668.0 / 815.9 / 22% / 555.9 / 691.0 / 24% / 112.2 / 124.9
Chemicals / 145.1 / 176.0 / 21% / 83.5 / 102.1 / 22% / 61.7 / 73.9
Machinery & vehicles / 331.7 / 412.4 / 24% / 249.5 / 321.6 / 29% / 82.2 / 90.8
Other manuf’d goods / 191.2 / 227.5 / 19% / 222.9 / 267.3 / 20% / -31.7 / -39.8
Other / 27.2 / 28.3 / 4% / 29.1 / 20.3 / -30% / -1.8 / 8.0
Total / 802.3 / 982.0 / 22% / 888.6 / 1 091.3 / 23% / -86.3 / -109.3


Main trading partners - EA16 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EA16 exports to / EA16 imports from / Trade balance
Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10
United Kingdom / 130.0 / 144.7 / 11% / 93.2 / 108.0 / 16% / 36.8 / 36.7
United States / 113.5 / 133.5 / 18% / 87.7 / 94.2 / 7% / 25.8 / 39.3
China / 50.0 / 69.4 / 39% / 116.5 / 152.2 / 31% / -66.6 / -82.8
Russia / 36.0 / 45.2 / 26% / 57.9 / 78.3 / 35% / -21.9 / -33.1
Switzerland / 58.5 / 67.6 / 16% / 48.5 / 54.8 / 13% / 9.9 / 12.8
Poland / 48.9 / 57.8 / 18% / 37.2 / 45.9 / 24% / 11.7 / 11.8
Czech Republic / 33.9 / 41.3 / 22% / 38.6 / 47.1 / 22% / -4.7 / -5.8
Sweden / 29.7 / 37.3 / 26% / 27.4 / 33.6 / 23% / 2.3 / 3.7
Japan / 21.1 / 25.3 / 19% / 32.8 / 37.5 / 14% / -11.6 / -12.2
Turkey / 25.5 / 34.3 / 35% / 19.5 / 22.4 / 15% / 6.0 / 11.9

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

EU27 exports to / EU27 imports from / Trade balance
Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10
United States / 152.2 / 177.8 / 17% / 120.4 / 124.9 / 4% / 31.8 / 52.8
China / 59.3 / 82.3 / 39% / 157.1 / 204.5 / 30% / -97.8 / -122.2
Russia / 47.5 / 61.4 / 29% / 82.5 / 113.4 / 37% / -35.0 / -52.1
Switzerland / 65.2 / 76.3 / 17% / 55.0 / 62.5 / 14% / 10.2 / 13.8
Norway / 27.4 / 30.6 / 11% / 52.0 / 57.3 / 10% / -24.5 / -26.8
Japan / 26.5 / 32.0 / 21% / 42.4 / 47.9 / 13% / -15.9 / -15.9
Turkey / 32.2 / 43.9 / 36% / 26.4 / 30.8 / 16% / 5.8 / 13.1
South Korea / 15.6 / 20.4 / 31% / 24.2 / 29.3 / 21% / -8.6 / -8.9
India / 19.7 / 25.1 / 27% / 19.1 / 24.4 / 28% / 0.6 / 0.7
Brazil / 15.2 / 23.3 / 53% / 19.4 / 23.6 / 22% / -4.2 / -0.3

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

Total exports / Total imports / Trade balance
Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10 / Growth / Jan-Sep 09 / Jan-Sep 10
Belgium / 195.6 / 230.5 / 18% / 185.7 / 216.4 / 16% / 9.8 / 14.1
Bulgaria / 8.5 / 11.3 / 33% / 12.5 / 13.5 / 9% / -4.0 / -2.3
Czech Republic / 59.4 / 72.0 / 21% / 55.0 / 68.2 / 24% / 4.4 / 3.7
Denmark / 49.9 / 54.3 / 9% / 44.1 / 46.8 / 6% / 5.7 / 7.5
Germany / 590.8 / 701.5 / 19% / 492.9 / 588.0 / 19% / 97.9 / 113.5
Estonia / 4.8 / 6.1 / 28% / 5.3 / 6.6 / 23% / -0.6 / -0.5
Ireland / 63.8 / 65.3 / 2% / 33.8 / 33.4 / -1% / 30.0 / 31.8
Greece / 10.7 / 11.0 / 3% / 32.6 / 28.8 / -12% / -21.8 / -17.7
Spain / 119.3 / 135.0 / 13% / 153.3 / 174.0 / 13% / -34.0 / -39.0
France / 257.4 / 289.3 / 12% / 295.1 / 335.7 / 14% / -37.7 / -46.3
Italy / 215.4 / 246.2 / 14% / 219.5 / 265.4 / 21% / -4.1 / -19.2
Cyprus / 0.7 / 0.8 / 13% / 4.2 / 4.5 / 8% / -3.5 / -3.7
Latvia / 4.0 / 5.1 / 29% / 5.2 / 6.1 / 18% / -1.2 / -1.0
Lithuania / 8.6 / 11.0 / 28% / 9.6 / 12.4 / 29% / -1.1 / -1.4
Luxembourg / 11.3 / 10.8 / -4% / 13.1 / 13.3 / 2% / -1.8 / -2.5
Hungary / 43.2 / 52.4 / 21% / 40.7 / 48.4 / 19% / 2.5 / 4.0
Malta / 1.2 / 1.4 / 15% / 2.3 / 2.3 / 3% / -1.1 / -1.0
Netherlands / 260.3 / 314.9 / 21% / 231.8 / 284.3 / 23% / 28.5 / 30.6
Austria / 72.4 / 83.8 / 16% / 75.7 / 87.0 / 15% / -3.3 / -3.2
Poland / 71.3 / 88.8 / 25% / 78.3 / 95.9 / 22% / -7.1 / -7.0
Portugal / 23.4 / 27.0 / 16% / 37.7 / 41.6 / 10% / -14.3 / -14.6
Romania / 21.2 / 26.8 / 26% / 28.4 / 33.8 / 19% / -7.1 / -7.0
Slovenia / 13.9 / 16.2 / 17% / 13.9 / 16.3 / 17% / -0.1 / -0.1
Slovakia / 28.9 / 35.2 / 22% / 28.7 / 35.6 / 24% / 0.1 / -0.4
Finland / 32.6 / 37.0 / 14% / 32.2 / 37.2 / 15% / 0.4 / -0.1
Sweden / 69.0 / 86.2 / 25% / 62.3 / 81.2 / 30% / 6.7 / 5.0
United Kingdom / 184.8 / 222.8 / 21% / 255.3 / 307.6 / 20% / -70.5 / -84.8


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.

EA16 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Flows / May 10 / Jun 10 / Jul 10 / Aug 10 / Sep 10 / Oct 10 / Growth:
Jun/May / Jul/Jun / Aug/Jul / Sep/Aug / Oct/Sep
Extra-EA16 exports / 124.2 / 131.3 / 131.0 / 131.6 / 132.2 / 132.0 / 5.7% / -0.2% / 0.5% / 0.5% / -0.1%
Extra-EA16 imports / 127.1 / 132.8 / 131.0 / 133.3 / 130.1 / 128.5 / 4.5% / -1.3% / 1.7% / -2.4% / -1.3%
Extra-EA16 trade balance / -2.9 / -1.5 / -0.1 / -1.7 / 2.0 / 3.6
Intra-EA16 dispatches / 120.5 / 125.9 / 125.1 / 126.0 / 125.4 / 125.5 / 4.5% / -0.7% / 0.7% / -0.5% / 0.0%

EU27 trade - seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Flows / May 10 / Jun 10 / Jul 10 / Aug 10 / Sep 10 / Oct 10 / Growth:
Jun/May / Jul/Jun / Aug/Jul / Sep/Aug / Oct/Sep
Extra-EU27 exports / 108.9 / 115.3 / 116.0 / 115.5 / 116.0 / 116.1 / 5.9% / 0.6% / -0.5% / 0.4% / 0.1%