The international trade in goods surplus in the euro area amounted to €21.2 billion in June 2020, improving slightly from a surplus of €19.4 billion in June of last year, according to the latest report from Eurostat.
The euro area exported goods with €170.3 billion to the rest of the world in this period, down 10.0% from €189.3 billion in June 2019.
Among the 19 states, the sharpest decline in exports was seen in Malta (-25.9%), France (-25.3%) and Romania (-23.3%).
Imports to the euro area from the rest of the world stood at €149.1 billion, registering a year-on-year decline of 12.2% from 169.9 billion.
In this period, trade was impacted by COVID-19 containment measures introduced by the Member States, the report said.
Trade In The EU
The EU reported a €20.7 billion surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in June 2020, up from €17.5 billion in June 2019.
The value of extra-EU exports in June dropped by 9.6% to €154.4 billion from €170.8 billion in 2019.
Imports from the rest of the world stood at €133.7 billion, down 12.8% from €153.3 billion compared with June 2019.
Intra-EU trade fell to €235.4 billion in this period, down 6.4% year-on-year.
First Half Trade
Exports to the rest of the world from the EU fell to 12.7% year-on-year to €1 015.0 billion in the first six months to June.
Imports fell to €929.0 billion in this period, falling by 12.9% compared with the period between January-June 2019.
As a result, the trade surplus dropped to €85.9 billion in the first half from €95.8 billion in the same period last year.
Intra-euro area trade fell to €868.8 billion, down by 13.6% compared with the first half of 2019.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
