Brussels, 22/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - The first estimate for eurozone trade with the rest of the world in October 2004 was a 5.5 billion euro surplus, compared with +9.1 bn in October 2003. The September 2004 balance was +2.5 bn, compared with +8.5 bn in September 2003. In October 2004, exports, seasonally adjusted, fell by 0.4% compared with September 2004, while imports rose by 1.0%. The first estimate for October 2004 extra-EU25 trade was a 7.1 bn euro deficit, compared with -2.4 bn in October 2003. In September 2004, the balance was -7.7 bn, compared with -3.9 bn in September 2003. In October 2004, exports, seasonally adjusted, fell by 1.2% compared with September 2004, while imports rose by 0.8%. The energy deficit grew, while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose strongly, as did the surplus in the chemicals sector.
Apart from imports from the USA which fell (-1% comparing January-September 2004 with January-September 2003), and exports to Canada which were stable, EU25 trade flows with its major partners grew. The most notable increases were for imports from China (+21%), Turkey and South Korea (both +18%), Brazil (+17%) and Russia (+14%) and for exports to Turkey (+34%), Russia (+21%) and China (+18%). EU25 trade was characterised by an increase in the EU25 surplus with the USA (+55.1 bn euro in January-September 2004 compared with +49.3 bn in January-September 2003), Switzerland (+9.9 bn compared with +8.9 bn) and Turkey (+5.8 bn compared with +2.2 bn).The EU25 trade deficit increased with China (-54.6 bn compared with -44.5 bn), Russia (-25.3 bn compared with -23.8 bn) and Norway (-18.3 bn compared with -17.4 bn), but decreased with Japan (-23.0 bn compared with -23.6 bn). Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+121.8 bn euro in January-September 2004), and the largest deficit in the UK (71.0 bn).