The European Union (EU) is the third largest partner for trade in goods with Africa, behind China (the largest partner) and Japan, and in front of South Korea and the United States. Since 2015 there has been a trade in goods surplus with Africa and in 2017 the surplus was €18 billion. This was lower than the peak of €28 billion in 2016, due to an increase in imports from Africa – the first increase in imports from Africa to the EU since 2012.
In 2017, 23 EU Member States had a trade in goods surplus with Africa. The highest two were Germany (€8.3 billion) and France (€ 5.6 billion). In contrast, the five countries that had trade in goods deficits with Africa were Greece (€ 130 million), Slovenia (€ 134 million), Italy (€ 1.1 billion), the United Kingdom (€ 4.9 billion) and Spain (€ 6.3 billion).
More details on the international trade in goods between the EU and Africa, including analyses by main product group and by African regions, can be found in this Statistics Explained article: Africa-EU – international trade in goods statistics.
More about statistics on international trade in goods:
- Overview
- International trade in goods - a statistical picture online publication
- Other related Statistics Explained articles
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