Brussels, 24/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Over the whole of the year 2003, the euro zone saw its foreign trade surplus with the rest of the world fall by EUR 72.5 billion (EUR 98.9 billion in 2002) according to data provided last Thursday by Eurostat. In the EU as a whole (EU15), trade with third countries stood at a deficit of EUR 11.8 billion in 2003 (surplus of EUR 7.9 billion in 2002). Eurostat considers that the deterioration of the trade balance in 2003 in the euro zone and the EU is due to a larger fall in exports than in imports. In the euro zone, exports were down 3% and imports down 1%. In the EU as a whole, exports were down 2% but imports remained stable.
According to data available for the first eleven months of the year (January-November), the euro zone saw its trade surplus with the USA fall to EUR 51.6 billion (EUR 53.5 billion in 2002). The trade deficit of the euro zone with China increased to EUR 35.4 billion (26.6 billion during the first eleven months of 2002). The deficit with Japan was up by one billion, to EUR 19.2 billion. The energy cost within the euro zone increased during the first eleven months of the year to EUR 108.9 billion (EUR 104.6 billion in 2002).
During this period, Germany recorded the greatest trade surplus (EUR 119.2 billion, albeit down on the 124.4 billion in 2002), followed by Ireland (surplus of 32.2 billion). The United Kingdom had the largest deficit (EUR 69.7 billion), followed by Spain (39.5 billion). France notched up a deficit of EUR 4.3 billion although it had had a surplus of 1.7 billion in 2002.