March
2014
Euro
area international trade in goods surplus 17.1 bn euro
3.9
bn euro surplus for EU28
The
first estimate for the euro
area1
(EA18)
trade in
goods balance
with the rest of the world in March 2014 gave a 17.1 billion euro
surplus, compared with +21.9 bn in March 2013. The February 20142
balance was +14.2 bn, compared with +9.8 bn in February 2013. In
March 2014 compared with February
2014,
seasonally adjusted exports fell
by 0.5% and imports by 0.6%.
These
data3
are released by Eurostat,
the statistical office of the European Union.
The
first estimate for the March
2014 extra-EU281
trade balance was a 3.9 bn euro surplus, compared with +14.7 bn in
March 2013. In February 20142
the balance was +4.7 bn, compared with +1.2 bn in February 2013. In
March 2014 compared with February
2014,
seasonally adjusted exports fell
by 1.2% while imports remained stable.
EU28
detailed
results for January to February 2014
The
EU28
deficit for energy decreased (-59.2 bn euro in January-February 2014
compared with -66.2 bn in January-February 2013), as did the surplus
for machinery and vehicles (+35.5 bn compared with
+37.3
bn).
The
highest increases
of EU28
exports were registered with China
(+13% in
January-February 2014 compared with
January-February
2013)
and South
Korea
(+9%), and the highest increases of EU28
imports with South
Korea
(+11%) and Switzerland
(+6%). The
most notable decreases were recorded for exports to Russia
(-10%),
Brazil and
Turkey
(both -5%),
and for imports from Russia
(-10%) and Japan
(-8%).
The
EU28
trade surplus increased with the USA
(+14.5 bn euro in January-February 2014 compared with
+13.8
bn in January-February 2013), decreased with Turkey
(+3.2
bn compared with
+3.9
bn) and
remained stable with Switzerland
(+10.9 bn). The
EU28
trade deficit fell with China
(-24.1 bn compared with -25.9 bn) and
Russia ( 16.4
bn compared with
-18.1
bn) and remained nearly stable with Norway
(-7.5 bn compared with -7.4
bn).
Concerning
the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in
Germany
(+31.7 bn euro in January-February 2014), followed by the
Netherlands
(+10.0 bn), Ireland
(+5.1 bn) and Italy
(+3.0 bn). The United
Kingdom (-16.7
bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France
(-13.3
bn), Spain
(-4.0 bn) and Greece
(-3.6 bn).
EA18
trade
- non seasonally adjusted data bn euro
|
Flows
|
Mar
13
|
Mar
14
|
Growth
|
Feb
13
|
Feb
14
|
Growth
|
Jan-Mar
13
|
Jan-Mar
14
|
Growth
|
|||
|
Extra-EA18
exports
|
165.2
|
164.0
|
-1%
|
149.0
|
|
153.5
|
r
|
3%
|
|
460.9
|
465.6
|
1%
|
|
Extra-EA18
imports
|
143.3
|
146.9
|
2%
|
139.2
|
|
139.3
|
r
|
0%
|
|
434.1
|
433.8
|
0%
|
|
Extra-EA18
trade balance
|
21.9
|
17.1
|
|
9.8
|
|
14.2
|
r
|
|
|
26.8
|
31.8
|
|
|
Intra-EA18
dispatches4
|
139.3
|
139.9
|
0%
|
130.7
|
|
133.0
|
r
|
2%
|
r
|
405.3
|
408.8
|
1%
|
EU28
trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro
|
Flows
|
Mar
13
|
Mar
14
|
Growth
|
Feb
13
|
Feb
14
|
Growth
|
Jan-Mar
13
|
Jan-Mar
14
|
Growth
|
|||
|
Extra-EU28
exports
|
153.1
|
142.8
|
-7%
|
134.9
|
|
135.8
|
r
|
1%
|
|
420.1
|
409.0
|
-3%
|
|
Extra-EU28
imports
|
138.4
|
138.8
|
0%
|
133.7
|
|
131.1
|
r
|
-2%
|
|
421.4
|
414.0
|
-2%
|
|
Extra-EU28
trade balance
|
14.7
|
3.9
|
|
1.2
|
|
4.7
|
r
|
|
|
-1.3
|
-5.0
|
|
|
Intra-EU28
dispatches4
|
243.8
|
251.6
|
3%
|
228.5
|
|
237.3
|
r
|
4%
|
r
|
707.5
|
730.0
|
3%
|
r:
revised
- The euro area (EA18) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The
European Union (EU28) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia,
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 59/2014 of 15 April 2014, the trade balance for February 2014 has been revised from +13.6 bn euro to +14.2 bn for the EA18 and from +4.4 bn to +4.7 bn for the EU28.
- This News Release is based on data available on 13 May 2014. 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.
