STAT/08/9
17 January 2008

November 2007
Euro area external trade surplus 2.6 bn euro
16.8 bn euro deficit for EU27

The first estimate for the euro area¹ (EA13) trade balance with the rest of the world in November 2007 gave a 2.6 bn euro surplus, compared with +5.2 bn in November 2006. The October 2007² balance was +5.4 bn, compared with +2.4 bn in October 2006. In November 2007 compared with October 2007, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.3% and imports by 0.5%.

The first estimate for the November 2007 extra-EU27¹ trade balance was a deficit of 16.8 bn euro, compared with
-12.4 bn in November 2006. In October 2007², the balance was -14.3 bn, compared with -14.9 bn in October 2006. In November 2007 compared with October 2007, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.8% and imports by 0.6%.

These data³ are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

EU27 January-October 2007 detailed results

The EU27 energy deficit decreased (-213.9 bn euro in January-October 2007 compared with -237.4 bn in January-October 2006), while the surplus rose for machinery and vehicles (+105.5 bn compared with +77.8 bn).

EU27 trade with most of its major partners grew, with the exception of exports to the USA (-2% in January-October 2007 compared with January-October 2006) and Japan (-1%), and imports from Norway (-8%), Russia (-3%) and South Korea (-2%). The largest increases were recorded for exports to Russia (+25%), India (+20%), Brazil (+17%), China and Norway (both +13%), and for imports from China (+21%), Brazil (+19%), India (+16%) and Turkey (+13%).

The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+67.9 bn euro in January-October 2007 compared with +74.4 bn in January-October 2006) and Switzerland (+12.8 bn compared with +13.2 bn). The EU27 trade deficit grew with China (-132.2 bn compared with -105.6 bn) and Japan (-28.4 bn compared with -27.2 bn), but decreased with Russia (-43.4 bn compared with -61.2 bn), Norway (-26.0 bn compared with -35.2 bn) and South Korea (-12.7 bn compared to -15.0 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+165.6 bn euro in January-October 2007), followed by the Netherlands (+34.5 bn), Ireland (+25.2 bn), Belgium (+12.8 bn) and Sweden (+11.4 bn). The United Kingdom (-112.4 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-78.6 bn), France (-34.9 bn), Greece (-32.0 bn), Romania (-17.3 bn), Portugal (-15.4 bn) and Poland (-13.2 bn).

EA13 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

EU27 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: Revised

1. The euro area (EA13) consisted of 13 Member States up to 31 December 2007: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. From 1 January 2008 the euro area (EA15) also includes Cyprus and Malta.

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).

As part of Eurostat's guidelines for the dissemination of data when the EU or euro area is enlarged, the aggregate data series commented on in this News Release refer to the official composition of the euro area in the most recent month for which data is available. Thus News Releases with data for months up to December 2007 will comment on EA13 series, while Releases with data for January 2008 onwards will comment on EA15 series.

1. The first estimates for October 2007 were +6.1 bn euro for the euro area and -14.2 bn for the EU27. See News Release 180/2007 issued on 18 December 2007.
2. This News Release is based on data available on 14 January 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 November 2007 and first estimates for December 2007 will be issued on 15 February 2008.

1. 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.

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

EA13 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

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

EA15 trade - previous 6 months - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

r: revised

Main products ? EA13 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main products - EU27 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main products ? EA15 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

Main trading partners ? EA13 - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro

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

Main trading partners ? EA15 - 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 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 data³ in the choice of seasonal adjustment model and to the use of series in national currency or in euro.

EA13 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

[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]


[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]