Archive:The EU in the world - international trade
- Data from June - July 2012. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Database.
This article is part of a set of statistical articles based on the Eurostat publication The EU in the world 2013.
The article focuses on the international trade in the European Union (EU) and in the 15 non-EU countries from the Group of Twenty (G20). It covers key trade statistics - international trade in goods and balance of payments - and gives an insight into the European economy in comparison with the major economies in the rest of the world, especially with the EU's counterparts in the so-called Triad, the US and Japan, and with the BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China (or BRICS if South-Africa is also included).
Source: Eurostat (tec00123), the International Monetary Fund (International Financial Statistics),the OECD (Gross domestic product), the United Nations Statistics Division(National Accounts Main Aggregates Database) and national statistics offices
Source: Eurostat (tec00023) (tec00044)and (tec00045), the International Monetary Fund(International Financial Statistics), the OECD (Gross domestic product), the United Nations Statistics Division(National Accounts Main Aggregates Database) and national statistics offices
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Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and the United Nations (Comtrade)
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Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)
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Source: Eurostat (bop_its_ybk) and the United Nations (Service Trade)
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Source: Eurostat (bop_its_ybk)
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Source: Eurostat (bop_its_ybk)
Main statistical findings
Trade in goods and services to GDP
The level of international trade relative to overall economic activity (the ratio of traded goods and services to GDP) may be expected to be considerably higher for relatively small countries that are more integrated in the global economy as a result of not producing a full range of goods and services, as can be seen, for example, with Saudi Arabia and South Korea in Figure 1. By contrast, the United States reported the second lowest ratio of international trade (average of exports and imports) of goods and services to GDP (15.9 %) in 2011 among the G20 members, higher only than that in Brazil (12.1 %). While trade in goods dominates international trade, trade in services has grown strongly: trade in services was equivalent to 7.0 % or more of GDP in India and Saudi Arabia and reached 8.7 % of GDP in South Korea.
Relative to GDP, Saudi Arabia recorded by far the largest international trade surplus (goods and services combined) in 2011 among the G20 members, its surplus in goods outweighing its services deficit by an amount equivalent to 30.9 % of GDP; Russia (8.7 %) and China (4.0 %, 2010 data) recorded the next largest surpluses. At the other end of the scale, Turkey’s goods deficit was nearly five times as large as its services surplus, resulting in an overall deficit equivalent to 9.2 % of GDP, larger (in relative terms) than the deficits recorded for India (5.3 %, 2010 data) and the United States (3.7 %). For goods, the EU‑27 recorded a trade deficit that was 1.1 % of its GDP, slightly larger than the 0.9 % of GDP trade surplus recorded for services.
Trade in goods
In 2007 China overtook the United States to become the second largest exporter of goods among the G20 members, behind the EU‑27. Despite the strong growth in Chinese exports, the EU‑27’s exports of goods in 2011 remained higher – see Figure 2. By contrast, Chinese imports of goods were notably lower than imports into either the EU‑27 or the United States. Together, the EU‑27, China and the United States accounted for 40.0 % of global exports of goods in 2011 and 42.8 % of global imports.
The EU‑27 ran a trade deficit for goods equal to EUR 155.8 billion in 2011; this was the second largest deficit among the G20 members, behind that recorded for the United States (EUR 563.8 billion). Table 2 shows the flows and balance of trade in goods for the EU‑27 with the other G20 members. In 2011 the EU‑27 had relatively large trade deficits with China and Russia, while its largest surplus was with the United States. Between 2001 and 2011 the EU‑27’s goods trade balance with India, South Africa and Turkey developed from a deficit into a surplus, whereas this situation was reversed with Saudi Arabia.
The two parts of Figure 3 analyse the importance of the other G20 members for the EU‑27’s trade in goods. Close to three fifths of all EU‑27 exports of goods in 2011 were destined for G20 members, most notably the United States (17.0 % share), China (8.9 %) and Russia (7.1 %); the EU‑27’s main export market outside of the G20 was Switzerland which was the destination for 7.9 % of the EU‑27’s exports. Collectively the G20 members provided just over three fifths of the EU‑27’s imports of goods, with China (17.3 %), Russia (11.8 %) and the United States (10.9 %) the main countries of origin; Norway (5.5 %) and Switzerland (5.4 %) provided similar shares of the EU‑27’s imports.
Figures 4 and 5 show the reverse situation, namely the importance of the EU‑27 as a trading partner for the other G20 members in terms of the trade in goods. Nearly half of all goods exported from Russia and Turkey were destined for the EU‑27 in 2011, whereas this was the case for less than one tenth of goods exported from Canada, Australia or Mexico. The EU‑27 was the source of more than one fifth of all goods imported into Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia (2010 data) and Brazil, while the EU‑27 supplied less than one tenth of all goods imported into Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.
Trade in services
The EU‑27 is the world’s largest exporter and importer of services with a surplus of EUR 92.4 billion in 2010 and provisional data show that this rose to EUR 109.1 billion in 2011. Although the United States recorded somewhat lower levels of exports and imports of services than the EU‑27, its trade surplus for services was higher in 2010, valued at EUR 107.4 billion. Among the other G20 countries, only India and Turkey reported trade surpluses for services, while the largest deficits were registered for Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Russia. Comparing trade flows for 2010 with those for 2000, India, China, Russia and Brazil all reported that exports and imports of services had more than more than doubled (in current price terms).
A relatively high share of the EU‑27’s trade in services was with the United States in 2010 and 2011 – although exports and imports were broadly in line with each other – resulting in a relatively small deficit in 2010 and small surplus in 2011. With the other G20 members listed in Table 4 (note that data is not available for those G20 members that are not shown) the EU‑27 had trade surpluses in services; between 2010 and 2011 the surpluses with Brazil, Canada, China, Japan and Russia increased, while the surplus with India contracted but remained positive.
The analysis of the EU‑27’s trading partners shown in Figure 6 for services can be compared with a similar analysis for goods (see Figure 3). The importance of the United States as a trading partner for the EU‑27 for services is notably higher than it was for goods, whereas the reverse was true for China and Russia. Among countries outside of the G20, Switzerland was an important partner for trade in services as it was the destination for 13.0 % of the EU‑27’s exports of services and the origin of 11.4 % of the EU‑27’s imports of services, in both cases a larger share than Russia, China and Japan combined.
Data sources and availability
The statistical data were mainly extracted during June and July 2012.
The indicators are often compiled according to international – sometimes global – standards, for example, UN standards for national accounts and the IMF’s standards for balance of payments statistics. Although most data are based on international concepts and definitions there may be certain discrepancies in the methods used to compile the data.
EU‑27 and euro area data
Almost all of the indicators presented for the EU‑27 and EA-17 aggregates have been drawn from Eurobase, Eurostat’s online database. Eurobase is updated regularly, so there may be differences between data appearing in this publication and data that is subsequently downloaded. In exceptional cases some indicators for the EU have been extracted from international sources, for example, when values are expressed in purchasing power parities. Otherwise, European Commission sources have been used.
G20 countries from the rest of the world
For the 15 G20 countries that are not members of the EU, the data presented have generally been extracted from a range of international sources listed in the Introduction. In a few cases the data available from these international sources have been supplemented by data for individual countries from national statistics authorities. For some of the indicators a range of international statistical sources are available, each with their own policies and practices concerning data management (for example, concerning data validation, correction of errors, estimation of missing data, and frequency of updating). In general, attempts have been made to use only one source for each indicator in order to provide a comparable analysis between the countries.
Context
Globalisation acquires a higher profile when it is measured by actual trade flows. There are two main sources of trade statistics: the first is international trade in goods which provides highly detailed information on the value and quantity of international trade; the second is balance of payments statistics which register all the transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. The current account of the balance of payments provides information on international trade in goods and services, as well as income (from employment and investment) and current transfers. For all these transactions, the balance of payments registers the value of exports (credits) and imports (debits).
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
- Title(s) of second level folder (if any)
- Title(s) of third level folder (if any)
Database
- International trade, see:
- International trade data (ext)
- International trade long-term indicators (ext_lti)
- International trade short-term indicators (ext_sti)
- International trade detailed data (detail)
- Balance of payments, see:
- Balance of payments - International transactions (bop)
- International trade in services, geographical breakdown (bop_its)