STAT/08/143 17 October 2008 August 2008 Euro area external trade deficit 9.3 27.2 deficit for EU27 The first estimate for the euro area 1 (EA15) trade balance with the rest of the world in August 2008 gave a 9.3 bn euro deficit, compared with +1.5 bn in August 2007. The July 2008 2 balance was -2.0 bn, compared with +5.3 bn in July 2007. In August 2008 compared with July 2008, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.6% and imports by 1.0%. The first estimate for the August 2008 extra-eu27 1 trade balance was a deficit of 27.2, compared with -16.1 bn in August 2007. In July 2008 2, the balance was -21.5 bn, compared with -13.3 bn in July 2007. In August 2008 compared with July 2008, seasonally adjusted exports and imports both fell by 2.3%. These data 3 are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. EU27 January-July 2008 detailed results The EU27 energy deficit increased (-219.4 in January-July 2008 compared with -144.8 bn in January-July 2007), while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose (+92.0 bn compared with +72.4 bn). EU27 trade with most of its major partners grew, with the exception of exports to the USA (-4% in January-July 2008 compared with January-July 2007) and Japan (-3%), and imports from South Korea (-4%) and Japan (-3%). The largest increases were recorded for exports to Russia (+26%), Brazil (+23%) and China (+16%), and for imports from Russia and Norway (both +30%). The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+38.5 bn in January-July 2008 compared with +46.3 bn in January-July 2007), while it increased with Switzerland (+10.5 bn compared with +8.2 bn). The EU27 trade deficit grew with Russia (-44.8 bn compared with -32.9 bn) and Norway (-29.7 bn compared with -18.1 bn), and remained nearly stable with China (-86.6 bn compared with -86.0 bn) and Japan (-19.6 bn compared with -20.2 bn). Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+116.9 in January-July 2008), followed by the Netherlands (+25.5 bn) and Ireland (+14.9 bn). The United Kingdom (-72.7 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-58.1 bn), France (-37.2 bn) and Greece (-21.4 bn).
EA15 trade - non seasonally adjusted data Flows Aug 07 Aug 08 Growth Jul 07 Jul 08 Growth Jan-Aug 07 Jan-Aug 08 Growth Extra-EA15 exports 119.2 117.2-2% 129.7 r 141.6 r 9% r 979.2 1,040.9 6% Extra-EA15 imports 117.7 126.5 7% 124.4 r 143.6 r 15% r 962.7 1,064.9 11% Extra-EA15 trade balance 1.5-9.3 5.3 r -2.0 r 16.5-24.0 Intra-EA15 dispatches 4 105.6 105.8 0% 125.8 133.6 r 6% r 987.8 1,036.5 5% EU27 trade - non seasonally adjusted data Flows Aug 07 Aug 08 Growth Jul 07 Jul 08 Growth Jan-Aug 07 Jan-Aug 08 Growth Extra-EU27 exports 100.9 98.7-2% 108.4 r 121.5 r 12% 811.1 868.4 7% Extra-EU27 imports 117.1 125.9 8% 121.7 r 143.0 r 17% 931.2 1,037.2 11% Extra-EU27 trade balance -16.1-27.2-13.3 r -21.5-120.1-168.8 Intra-EU27 dispatches 4 195.1 195.0 0% 219.9 235.1 r 7% r 1,737.4 1,839.7 6% r: Revised 1. The euro area (EA15) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK). 2. The first estimates for July 2008 were -2.3 for the euro area and -21.5 for the EU27. See News Release 131/2008 issued on 17 September 2008. 3. This News Release is based on data available on 14 October 2008. 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. The next News Release including revised data for August 2008 and first estimates for September 2008 will be issued on 17 November 2008. 4. Since the introduction of Intrastat for intra-eu trade on 1 February 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: +352-4301-33 444 mailto:eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu 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 mailto:estat-etfree@ec.europa.eu Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators
EA15 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data Flows Jan 08 Feb 08 Mar 08 Apr 08 May 08 Jun 08 Extra-EA15 exports 123.7 130.2 128.6 r 138.2 r 126.8 134.7 r Extra-EA15 imports 134.6 128.9 130.0 r 135.4 130.9 r 135.0 r Extra-EA15 trade balance -10.9 1.3-1.4 2.8 r -4.1 r -0.3 r Intra-EA15 dispatches 130.1 133.0 132.4 138.7 r 128.7 r 134.2 r EU27 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data Flows Jan 08 Feb 08 Mar 08 Apr 08 May 08 Jun 08 Extra-EU27 exports 100.0 109.0 105.3 114.9 r 106.1 r 112.9 r Extra-EU27 imports 130.7 123.0 124.4 130.0 127.4 r 132.8 Extra-EU27 trade balance -30.7-14.0-19.1-15.1 r -21.3 r -19.9 r Intra-EU27 dispatches 228.9 r 234.3 r 233.3 r 245.2 r 228.9 239.0 r r: revised Main products - EA15 - non seasonally adjusted data EA15 exports EA15 imports Trade balance Primary products: 102.8 123.5 20% 246.3 321.6 31% -143.5-198.1 Food & drink 50.1 56.6 13% 45.0 49.4 10% 5.0 7.2 Crude materials 19.1 21.4 12% 41.6 44.0 6% -22.5-22.6 Energy 33.6 45.5 35% 159.6 228.1 43% -126.0-182.7 Manufactured goods: 735.9 775.2 5% 586.8 598.4 2% 149.1 176.8 Chemicals 134.3 143.6 7% 84.4 88.8 5% 49.9 54.8 Machinery & vehicles 379.3 400.0 5% 272.3 283.3 4% 107.0 116.7 Other manuf d articles 222.3 231.6 4% 230.2 226.3-2% -7.8 5.3 Other 21.2 25.0 18% 11.9 18.4 55% 9.3 6.6 Total 859.9 923.7 7% 845.0 938.4 11% 15.0-14.7 Main products - EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data EU27 exports EU27 imports Trade balance Primary products: 87.8 105.4 20% 264.3 356.6 35% -176.5-251.2 Food & drink 34.2 38.1 11% 42.3 46.0 9% -8.1-7.9 Crude materials 17.8 20.4 15% 41.4 44.4 7% -23.6-23.9 Energy 35.8 46.9 31% 180.6 266.3 47% -144.8-219.4 Manufactured goods: 601.6 639.7 6% 531.2 530.0 0% 70.4 109.7 Chemicals 114.3 119.6 5% 70.9 73.2 3% 43.4 46.4 Machinery & vehicles 308.9 332.5 8% 236.5 240.6 2% 72.4 92.0 Other manuf d articles 178.4 187.5 5% 223.8 216.2-3% -45.4-28.7 Other 20.8 24.6 18% 18.7 24.7 32% 2.1-0.1 Total 710.1 769.7 8% 814.1 911.3 12% -104.0-141.6
Main trading partners - EA15 - non seasonally adjusted data EA15 exports to EA15 imports from Trade balance United Kingdom 133.4 135.2 1% 97.0 99.4 2% 36.4 35.8 United States 114.7 109.9-4% 77.4 80.1 4% 37.3 29.8 China 33.7 38.7 15% 93.7 98.9 6% -60.0-60.2 Russia 36.3 43.9 21% 54.9 68.6 25% -18.5-24.7 Switzerland 47.5 50.3 6% 39.5 40.6 3% 8.0 9.8 Poland 40.5 48.0 18% 27.4 32.9 20% 13.1 15.1 Sweden 31.7 32.6 3% 29.6 31.5 6% 2.1 1.1 Czech Republic 27.9 31.2 12% 26.7 30.6 14% 1.2 0.6 Japan 20.4 19.9-3% 34.5 33.7-2% -14.1-13.8 Turkey 23.3 26.3 13% 18.8 19.7 5% 4.5 6.6 Main trading partners - EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data EU27 exports to EU27 imports from Trade balance United States 153.9 147.7-4% 107.6 109.2 2% 46.3 38.5 China 40.2 46.7 16% 126.2 133.3 6% -86.0-86.6 Russia 48.0 60.3 26% 80.9 105.2 30% -32.9-44.8 Switzerland 53.4 57.4 7% 45.3 46.9 4% 8.2 10.5 Norway 24.8 26.3 6% 42.9 56.0 30% -18.1-29.7 Japan 26.1 25.3-3% 46.3 44.9-3% -20.2-19.6 Turkey 30.0 34.1 14% 27.4 28.2 3% 2.5 6.0 South Korea 14.3 15.8 11% 23.6 22.6-4% -9.3-6.8 India 16.4 18.5 13% 15.5 17.3 12% 0.9 1.2 Brazil 11.7 14.5 23% 18.2 20.2 11% -6.5-5.8 Member States total trade (intra-eu + extra-eu) - non seasonally adjusted data Total exports Total imports Trade balance Belgium 183.3 191.3 4% 172.7 190.8 10% 10.6 0.5 Bulgaria 7.4 9.3 24% 11.9 15.1 27% -4.4-5.8 Czech Republic 50.2 60.6 21% 48.2 57.5 19% 2.0 3.2 Denmark 42.7 47.1 10% 41.3 45.1 9% 1.4 2.0 Germany 559.0 597.6 7% 444.1 480.8 8% 114.9 116.9 Estonia 4.6 4.9 6% 6.6 6.5-2% -1.9-1.5 Ireland 52.8 49.7-6% 35.3 34.8-1% 17.5 14.9 Greece 9.9 10.1 2% 32.8 31.5-4% -23.0-21.4 Spain 105.4 111.8 6% 157.3 170.0 8% -52.0-58.1 France 238.8 251.4 5% 262.2 288.6 10% -23.3-37.2 Italy 211.7 224.5 6% 217.2 229.7 6% -5.5-5.2 Cyprus 0.6 0.6 3% 3.5 4.2 20% -2.9-3.6 Latvia 3.4 4.0 17% 6.4 6.4-1% -3.0-2.4 Lithuania 7.1 9.5 34% 10.1 12.6 25% -3.0-3.1 Luxembourg 9.5 10.1 7% 11.6 12.6 9% -2.1-2.4 Hungary 39.3 44.2 12% 39.6 44.1 11% -0.3 0.1 Malta 1.2 1.1-11% 1.8 1.9 3% -0.6-0.8 Netherlands 227.6 254.5 12% 204.9 229.0 12% 22.6 25.5 Austria 69.0 73.8 7% 68.0 73.4 8% 0.9 0.4 Poland 57.4 68.4 19% 67.7 81.4 20% -10.3-13.0 Portugal 22.5 23.7 5% 32.8 36.5 11% -10.3-12.9 Romania 16.9 20.0 19% 28.4 32.9 16% -11.5-12.9 Slovenia 12.7 14.1 11% 13.1 15.0 15% -0.4-0.9 Slovakia 23.7 28.5 20% 24.3 29.2 20% -0.6-0.7 Finland 38.2 39.9 4% 34.6 37.1 7% 3.6 2.8 Sweden 70.8 76.6 8% 62.5 68.4 9% 8.4 8.2 United Kingdom 186.6 187.0 0% 264.2 259.7-2% -77.6-72.7
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 data 3 in the choice of seasonal adjustment model and to the use of series in national currency or in euro. EA15 trade - seasonally adjusted data Growth: Flows Mar 08 Apr 08 May 08 Jun 08 Jul 08 Aug 08 Apr/Mar May/Apr Jun/May Jul/Jun Aug/Jul Extra-EA15 exports 128.7 135.9 129.4 130.4 134.0 133.1 5.6% -4.8% 0.8% 2.7% -0.6% Extra-EA15 imports 130.4 135.0 131.3 134.2 140.6 139.2 3.5% -2.7% 2.2% 4.8% -1.0% Extra-EA15 trade balance -1.8 1.0-2.0-3.9-6.7-6.1 Intra-EA15 dispatches 128.9 134.6 129.8 129.8 132.0 132.7 4.4% -3.5% 0.0% 1.7% 0.6% EU27 trade - seasonally adjusted data Growth: Flows Mar 08 Apr 08 May 08 Jun 08 Jul 08 Aug 08 Apr/Mar May/Apr Jun/May Jul/Jun Aug/Jul Extra-EU27 exports 107.2 112.3 108.0 108.7 112.9 110.3 4.8% -3.9% 0.7% 3.8% -2.3% Extra-EU27 imports 126.9 129.9 128.8 132.4 137.9 134.8 2.4% -0.8% 2.8% 4.2% -2.3% Extra-EU27 trade balance -19.7-17.6-20.9-23.7-25.1-24.4 Intra-EU27 dispatches 227.5 239.6 230.1 231.4 234.1 234.9 5.3% -3.9% 0.5% 1.2% 0.3% Contribution of EU27 Member States to extra-eu27 trade - seasonally adjusted data Total exports Total imports Trade balance Jul 08 Aug 08 Growth Jul 08 Aug 08 Growth Jul 08 Aug 08 EU27 112.9 110.3-2.3% 137.9 134.8-2.3% -25.1-24.4 Belgium 5.9 5.8-1.7% 8.4 8.2-2.7% -2.5-2.4 Bulgaria 0.6 0.5-3.6% 1.1 1.0-5.8% -0.5-0.5 Czech Republic 1.3 1.3-0.5% 1.9 1.9 0.8% -0.6-0.6 Denmark 2.1 2.0-5.5% 1.7 1.8 3.3% 0.4 0.3 Germany 31.2 30.4-2.7% 25.3 24.1-4.6% 5.9 6.2 Estonia 0.2 0.2 3.9% 0.2 0.2 4.4% 0.0 0.0 Ireland 2.5 2.8 9.5% 1.7 1.3-23.7% 0.9 1.5 Greece 0.6 0.5-6.6% 1.7 1.6-2.3% -1.1-1.1 Spain 5.2 5.5 5.7% 10.6 10.5-1.2% -5.4-5.0 France 12.6 12.6-0.3% 14.1 14.1 0.0% -1.5-1.6 Italy 13.3 12.3-7.0% 15.5 15.4-0.8% -2.2-3.0 Cyprus 0.0 0.0-4.0% 0.2 0.2-9.8% -0.2-0.2 Latvia 0.2 0.2 12.7% 0.2 0.2-1.9% -0.1 0.0 Lithuania 0.6 0.6 10.7% 0.9 0.8-9.3% -0.3-0.2 Luxembourg 0.2 0.2-9.1% 0.5 0.4-23.4% -0.3-0.2 Hungary 1.5 1.2-14.2% 2.1 1.9-7.6% -0.6-0.7 Malta 0.1 0.1-20.1% 0.1 0.1-12.3% 0.0 0.0 Netherlands 7.9 7.9-0.7% 17.5 18.0 3.0% -9.5-10.1 Austria 2.9 2.9 1.0% 2.4 2.1-12.0% 0.5 0.8 Poland 2.5 2.3-8.0% 3.6 3.8 5.3% -1.1-1.5 Portugal 0.9 0.9 0.8% 1.6 1.5-6.0% -0.7-0.6 Romania 0.9 0.9 1.9% 1.7 1.7 3.0% -0.8-0.9 Slovenia 0.6 0.6-0.2% 0.7 0.7-2.1% 0.0 0.0 Slovakia 0.6 0.6-0.9% 1.2 1.1-11.2% -0.6-0.4 Finland 2.5 2.4-5.2% 2.3 2.1-10.9% 0.2 0.3 Sweden 4.6 4.3-6.5% 3.1 3.0-2.8% 1.5 1.3 United Kingdom 11.5 11.3-1.8% 17.7 17.1-3.4% -6.2-5.8
Seasonally adjusted data 150 Extra-EA15 trade 130 110 90 70 50 30 10-10 -30 01-05 04-05 07-05 10-05 01-06 04-06 07-06 10-06 01-07 04-07 07-07 10-07 01-08 04-08 07-08 Balance Imports Exports 150 Extra-EU27 trade 130 110 90 70 50 30 10-10 -30 01-05 04-05 07-05 10-05 01-06 04-06 07-06 10-06 01-07 04-07 07-07 10-07 01-08 04-08 07-08 Balance Imports Exports