The first estimate for the euro area 1 (EA15) trade balance with the rest of the world in May 2008 gave a 4.6 bn euro deficit, compared with +1.4 bn in May 2007. The April 2008 2 balance was +2.5 bn, compared with +2.0 bn in April 2007. In May 2008 compared with April 2008, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 3.4% and imports by 1.3%.
The first estimate for the May 2008 extra- EU27 1 trade balance was a deficit of 21.5 bn euro, compared with -14.7 bn in May 2007. In April 2008 2 , the balance was -15.4 bn, compared with -12.9 bn in April 2007. In May 2008 compared with April 2008, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 4.0% and imports by 1.3%.
These data 3 are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
The EU27 energy deficit increased (-118.7 bn euro in January-April 2008 compared with -81.0 bn in January-April 2007), while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose (+48.3 bn compared with +33.9 bn).
EU27 trade with most of its major partners grew, with the exception of exports to the USA (-3% in January-April 2008 compared with January-April 2007) and Japan (-2%), and imports from Japan (-1%). The largest increases were recorded for exports to Russia (+28%), Brazil (+21%) and China (+20%), and for imports from Russia (+28%) and Norway (+24%).
The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+21.5 bn in January-April 2008 compared with +24.8 bn in January-April 2007) and remained nearly stable with Switzerland (+5.0 bn compared with +4.7 bn). The EU27 trade deficit grew with Russia (-24.5 bn compared with -19.4 bn) and Norway (-15.9 bn compared with -11.6 bn ), but decreased with China (-48.9 bn compared with -50.1 bn) and remained stable with Japan (-12.1 bn compared with -11.9 bn ).
Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+69.1 bn euro in January-April 2008), followed by the Netherlands (+15.2 bn). The United Kingdom (-44.6 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-34.3 bn), France (-19.5 bn) and Greece (-11.9 bn).
EA15 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro
Flows
May 07
May 08
Growth
Apr 07
Apr 08
Growth
Jan-May 07
Jan-May 08
Growth
Extra-EA15 exports
123.3
128.4
4%
118.9
137.7
r
16%
600.4
648.3
8%
Extra-EA15 imports
121.9
133.0
9%
116.8
135.2
r
16%
598.4
661.6
11%
Extra-EA15 trade balance
1.4
-4.6
2.0
2.5
r
2.1
-13.2
Intra-EA15 dispatches 4
125.8
129.4
3%
120.8
138.3
r
14%
r
626.2
663.4
6%
EU27 trade - non seasonally adjusted data bn euro
Flows
May 07
May 08
Growth
Apr 07
Apr 08
Growth
Jan-May 07
Jan-May 08
Growth
Extra-EU27 exports
102.1
105.7
4%
99.1
114.7
r
16%
r
493.7
534.7
8%
Extra-EU27 imports
116.8
127.2
9%
112.0
130.1
r
16%
575.4
638.7
11%
Extra-EU27 trade balance
-14.7
-21.5
-12.9
-15.4
-81.7
-104.0
Intra-EU27 dispatches 4
221.7
230.7
4%
211.5
r
243.7
r
15%
1 093.7
1 170.0
7%
r: Revised
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).
The first estimates for April 2008 were +2.3 bn euro for the euro area and -15.4 bn euro for the EU27. See News Release 86/2008 issued on 17 June 2008.
This News Release is based on data available on 15 July 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 May 2008 and first estimates for June 2008 will be issued on 18 August 2008.
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.
