Brussels, 28/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The eurozone recorded an external trade surplus of EUR 7.8 billion with the rest of the world in July 2001, compared with a surplus of EUR 5.5 billion in July 2000, according to the first estimates published by Eurostat on Thursday. The surplus was EUR 6.0 billion in June 2001. Eurozone trade recorded a surplus of EUR 14.6 billion for the first seven months of 2001, compared with EUR 6.5 billion in 2000. For the whole of the European Union (EU15), the first estimate for July 2001 extra-EU15 trade was a EUR 1.6 billion deficit (compared with a EUR 5.0 billion deficit in June 2001) and a deficit of EUR 44.2 billion in the first seven months of 2001.
In terms of the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (EUR +39.5 billion), followed by Ireland (EUR +17.5 billion). The United Kingdom recorded the largest deficit (EUR - 33.2 billion), followed by Spain (EUR -18.5 billion). During the first six months of 2001, the EU15 energy deficit continued to increase (EUR - 56.1 billion in January-June 2001 compared with EUR - 51.9 billion in January-June 2000), while the surplus for machinery and vehicles nearly doubled (EUR +33.1 billion compared with EUR +17.7 billion in the first six months of 2000). EU15 trade flows with all its major partners grew, except for imports from Japan, which fell by 4%. The most notable increases were in exports to Russia (+44%), China (+29%) and the Czech Republic (+22%) and imports from Poland (+21%) and the Czech Republic (+20%). EU15 trade with the USA was characterised by an increase in the EU surplus (EUR + 16.0 billion in January-June 2001 compared with EUR +14.0 billion in January-June 2000), while EU 115 trade with Japan recorded a decrease in the EU deficit (EUR -18.0 billion compared with EUR -21.5 billion). The highest EU15 trade deficit in the first six months of 2001 was recorded with China (EUR -22.0 billion) and the highest surplus was registered with the USA.