€5.7 billion euro deficit for EU27

The first estimate for the euro area (EA16) trade balance with the rest of the world in July 2010 gave a 6.7 bn euro surplus, compared with +11.9 bn in July 2009. The June 2010 balance was +2.2 bn, compared with +5.2 bn in June 2009. In July 2010 compared with June 2010, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.6% and imports by 1.5%.

The first estimate for the July 2010 extra-EU27 trade balance was a 5.7 bn euro deficit, compared with +0.5 bn in July 2009. In June 2010² the balance was -9.7 bn, compared with -4.1 bn in June 2009. In July 2010 compared with June 2010, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.3%, while imports fell by 1.1%.

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

The EU27 deficit increased for energy (-140.2 bn euro in January-June 2010 compared with -110.6 bn in January-June 2009), while the surplus for manufactured goods increased (+81.4 bn compared with +63.0 bn).

EU27 trade with all its major partners grew in January-June 2010 compared with January-June 2009, except for imports from the USA (-3%). The most notable increases were recorded for exports to Brazil (+59%), China (+43%) and Turkey (+40%), and for imports from Russia (+45%), India (+24%) and China (+22%).

The EU27 trade surplus increased with the USA (+31.5 bn euro in January-June 2010 compared with +16.6 bn in January-June 2009), Switzerland (+8.0 bn compared with +6.3 bn) and Turkey (+7.5 bn compared with +2.5 bn). The EU27 trade deficit increased with China (-71.5 bn compared with -65.2 bn), Russia (-37.7 bn compared with
-20.5 bn) and Norway (-18.7 bn compared with -16.7 bn), and remained nearly stable with Japan (-10.9 bn compared with -10.8 bn) and South Korea (-6.3 bn compared with -6.5 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+74.3 bn euro in January-June 2010), followed by Ireland (+20.4 bn) and the Netherlands (+19.3 bn). The United Kingdom
(-52.8 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-30.0 bn), Spain (-26.0 bn), Italy (-14.2 bn), Greece
(-12.7 bn) and Portugal (-10.2 bn).