Eurostat, the European statistical office, has announced a European Union trade balance surplus of €197 billion for the year 2019. With an increase of €152 billion, this is a significant rise compared to 2018.
Thus, after recording a small deficit between 2009 and 2011, the EU's trade balance recorded a continuous surplus, peaking at €264 billion in 2016, and declining between 2017 and 2018.
Exports and imports of goods from outside the EU followed similar patterns, jumping between 2009 and 2011-2012, stabilising until 2016 and then increasing again. Exports of goods thus reached €2,132 billion in 2019, while the value of imports amounted to €1,935 billion.
The share of the US in total EU merchandise trade has increased in recent years, Eurostat also notes, reaching €616 billion (15.2% of trade); the trend is the same for China (13.8%).
With the United Kingdom, on the contrary, trade has decreased, with its share in EU trade falling from nearly 15% in 2009 to just under 13% in 2019.
Machinery and transport equipment dominated both EU exports (41%) and imports (33%), followed by other manufactured goods (23% and 24% respectively) and chemicals (19% and 12%). (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)