Archive:India-EU – international trade in goods statistics

Data extracted in February 2019

Planned article update: February 2020

Highlights

Among the EU's trading partners, India was the ninth largest for both EU exports of goods and EU imports of goods in 2018.

In 2018, manufactured goods dominated both the exports of goods from the EU to India and imports of goods from India to the EU, accounting for over 92 % of total exports of goods and 81 % of total imports of goods.

Among the EU Member States, the United Kingdom was the largest importer of goods (EUR 8.0 billion) from India in 2018, while Germany was the largest exporter of goods (EUR 12.5 billion) to India.

Imports, exports and trade balance in goods between the EU and India, 2008-2017

This article provides a picture of the trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and India. It analyses the type of goods exchanged between the two economies and the shares of each EU Member State in those exchanges.

This article is part of an online publication providing recent statistics on international trade in goods, covering information on the EU's main partners, main products traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.

Full article

Overview

In 2017, India was the 14^th largest exporter of goods in the world with a share of 2.1 % of world exports and the seventh largest importer of goods with a share of 3.2 % of world imports.
Among EU's trading partners, India was the ninth largest partner for both import and exports of goods in 2018.
EU trade balance in goods with India, which had always been in surplus from 2008 to 2012, has since 2013 turned into a deficit but in 2018 imports and exports were almost perfectly balanced.
Manufactured goods dominate both the export of goods from the EU to India and the import of goods from India to the EU, accounting for over 92 % of the total exports and 81 % of total imports.
Among the EU Member States, the United Kingdom is the largest importer of goods (EUR 8.0 billion in 2017) from India and 4th largest exporter of goods (EUR 5.6 billion) to India and has the largest trade in goods deficit with India (EUR 2.5 billion).
Germany is the largest exporter of goods (EUR 12.5 billion) to India and 2nd largest importer of goods (EUR 7.0 billion) from India and has the largest trade in goods surplus with India (EUR 5.4 billion).

EU and India in world trade in goods

Figure 1a shows that the four largest exporters of goods accounted for almost half of the world's exports. The largest is China (16 %) followed by the EU (15 %), the United States (11 %) and Japan (5 %). The same four accounted also for almost half of the world imports of goods but in different order. Here the United States (18 %) leads, followed by the EU (15 %), China (12 %) and Japan (5 %).

Figure 1a: The position of India among the world's largest traders in goods, 2017
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)

Figure 1b has some more detail, showing that India is the 14^th largest exporter of goods (EUR 235 billion, 2.1 %) in the world between Switzerland (EUR 265 billion, 223 %) and Australia (EUR 204 billion, 1.7 %). In world imports of goods India is the seventh largest importer (EUR 393 billion, 3.2 %) between South Korea (EUR 424 billion, 3.4 %) and Singapore (EUR 383 billion, 3.1 %).

Figure 1b: Top 25 importers and exporters of goods in the world with a focus on India, 2017
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

Figure 2 focuses on the evolution of trade in goods in the EU and India over the period 2007-2017. India's exports and imports developed in similar fashion both reaching almost two and half times their 2007 level in 2017. Consequently India's cover ratio remained almost unchanged starting at 67 % in 2013 and dropping slightly to 66 % in 2017. Over the same period EU exports grew by 52 percentage points while its imports grew by 28 percentage points. This resulted in a cover ratio of more than 100 % (in other words a trade surplus) since 2013.

Figure 2: Trade in goods of the EU-28 and India (2007 = 100) and cover ratio (%), 2007 to 2017
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)

EU trade with India almost balanced

Figure 3a shows India's trade in goods compared to the top four trading partners of the EU which were the United States, China, Switzerland and Russia. These four made up 44 % of all exports of goods from the EU and 47 % of all imports of goods to the EU. There is more detail in figure 3b which shows that in 2017, India was the ninth largest destination for EU exports of goods with a share of 2.3 % amounting to EUR 46 billion). This placed it between South Korea (EUR 49 billion, 2.5 %) and Canada (EUR 41 billion, 2.1 %). India was also the ninth largest partner for EU imports of goods with a share of 2.3 % amounting to EUR 46 billion. This placed it between South Korea (EUR 51 billion, 2.6 %) and Vietnam (EUR 38 billion, 1.9 %) .

Figure 3a: The position of India among the EU-28's main partners for trade in goods, 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

Figure 3b: Top 20 import and export partners for trade of goods of the EU with a focus on India, 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

The EU had a trade in goods surplus with India from 2007 to 2012 which turned into a trade in goods deficit in 2013, reaching 2.4 billion in 2017 which almost completely disappeared in 2018 (see Figure 4). In this time span, trade between the two economies hit a low in 2009, but quickly recovered, peaking in 2011. It then fell somewhat and did not surpass the 2011 levels until 2017. Between 2008 and 2018 exports to India grew by EUR 14.4 billion while imports grew by EUR 16.1 billion.

Figure 4: Imports, exports and balance for trade in goods between the EU-28 and India, 2008-2018 (EUR billion )
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

EU trade with India largely dominated by manufactured goods

When breaking down imports and exports by SITC groups, the main categories driving the exports to and imports from India are ‘Machinery and vehicles’, ‘Chemicals’ and ‘Other manufactured goods’. Together these manufactured products accounted for around 92 % of the EU exports and 81 % of imports (see Figure 5). In exports from the EU to India, ‘Machinery and vehicles’ (44 %) was the largest group before ‘Other manufactured goods’ (38 %) while in imports from India, ‘Other manufactured goods’ (53 %) was more than three times as large as ‘Machinery and vehicles’ (17 %).

Figure 5: EU-28 exports to and imports from India by product group, 2008 and 2018 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Figure 6 shows the evolution of EU imports and exports by SITC group from 2008 to 2018. The EU has trade deficits in 'Other manufactured goods', 'Chemicals', 'Food & drink' and 'Energy' and surpluses in ‘Machinery and vehicles’, 'Raw materials' and 'Other goods'. The highest surplus is in 'Machinery and vehicles' (EUR 11.8 billion) while the highest deficit is in 'Other manufactured goods (EUR 7.7 billion).

Figure 6: EU-28 trade with India by product group, 2008-2018 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Most traded goods: pearls and (semi-) precious stones

Figure 7 gives more details about the goods exchanged between the EU and India, showing the top 20 traded goods at a more detailed level (by SITC level 3). Those top 20 goods covered 45 % of total traded goods in 2018. Among the top 20 products nine belong to 'Other manufactured goods' and seven to ‘Machinery and vehicles’. 'Pearls and (semi-) precious stones' were the most traded product followed by 'aircraft and associated equipment'.

Another interesting way to look at data is to investigate the export/import ratio of traded goods, in order to better identify the direction taken by flows and specialisation between the two areas. These ratios can be found in the right margin of Figure 7. For the top product, 'pearls and (semi-) precious stones', the ratio equals 262 meaning that the EU exports are 2.62 times higher than the EU imports. Silver and relate metals as well as aircraft and associated equipment have very high ratios, showing exports from the EU to India dominate trade. The opposite is observed for some textile products (SITC 658, 842 and 845), footwear and steel.

Figure 7: Most traded goods between EU-28 and India, top 20 of SITC level 3 products, 2018 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Germany is the Member State trading most with India

Figure 8a shows EU Member States' imports of goods from India and the share of the partner India in national extra-EU imports in 2018. Table 8b provides similar information but concerning Member States' exports of goods to India.

There were seven Member States whose imports of goods from India were higher than EUR 3 billion: the United Kingdom (EUR 8.0 billion), Germany (EUR 7.1 billion), Italy (EUR 5.5 billion), Belgium and France (both EUR 4.9 billion), the Netherlands (EUR 4.2 billion) and Spain (EUR 3.8 billion). Together they accounted for 84 % of imports from India. The share of India in extra-EU imports was less than 3 % for all but four Member States. The exceptions were Malta (9.5 %), followed at some distance by Portugal (3.7 %), Belgium (3.6 %) and Italy (3.2 %).

Figure 8a: EU-28 imports of goods from India by Member State, 2018
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

The same seven Member States that were the largest importers of goods, were also the largest exporters of goods to India but here Germany (EUR 12.5 billion) led followed by Belgium (EUR 7.9 billion), France (EUR 6.0 billion), the United Kingdom (EUR 5.6 billion), Italy (EUR 4.0 billion), the Netherlands (EUR 2.3 billion) and Spain (EUR 1.3 billion). Their combined share in exports to India was 87 %. The share of India in extra-EU exports was less than 3 % for all Member States except Belgium, where it was 7.4 %.

Figure 8b: Exports of goods to India by Member State, 2018
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Figure 8c shows that 10 Member States had a trade in goods surplus with India in 2018, ranging from just EUR 5 million for Lithuania to EUR 5.4 billion for Germany. Belgium (EUR 3.0 billion) and France (EUR 1.1 billion) were the only other Member States with a trade surplus of more than EUR 1 billion. The remaining 18 Member States had a trade in goods deficit, starting at EUR 40 million for Latvia to EUR 2.5 billion for the United Kingdom. Spain (EUR 2.4 billion), the Netherlands (EUR 1.9 billion) and Italy (EUR 1.6 billion) were the only other Member States with trade deficits higher than EUR 1 billion.

Figure 8c: EU-28 trade balance of goods with India by Member State, 2018 (EUR million)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995

Source data for tables and graphs

India-EU-28 – international trade in goods statistics - graphs and tables

Data sources

EU data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU Member States but also to statistics of a significant number of third countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.

Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. For extra-EU trade, the statistical information is mainly provided by the traders on the basis of customs declarations.

EU data are compiled according to Community guidelines and may, therefore, differ from national data published by the Member States. Statistics on extra-EU trade are calculated as the sum of trade of each of the 28 EU Member States with countries outside the EU. In other words, the EU is considered as a single trading entity and trade flows are measured into and out of the area, but not within it.

Data for the other major traders are taken from the Comtrade database of the United Nations. Data availability differs among countries, therefore Figure 1 shows the latest common available year for all the main traders. For the calculation of shares the world trade is defined as the sum of EU trade with non-EU countries (source: Eurostat) plus the international trade of non-EU countries (source: IMF Dots database).

Methodology

According to the EU concepts and definitions, extra-EU trade statistics (trade between EU Member States and non-EU countries) do not record exchanges involving goods in transit, placed in a customs warehouse or given temporary admission (for trade fairs, temporary exhibitions, tests, etc.). This is known as ‘special trade’. The partner is the country of final destination of the goods for exports and the country of origin for imports.

Product classification

Information on commodities exported and imported is presented according to the Standard international trade classification (SITC). A full description is available from Eurostat’s classification server RAMON.

Unit of measure

Trade values are expressed in millions or billions (10⁹) of euros. They correspond to the statistical value, i.e. to the amount which would be invoiced in case of sale or purchase at the national border of the reporting country. It is called a FOB value (free on board) for exports and a CIF value (cost, insurance, freight) for imports.

Context

Trade is an important indicator of Europe’s prosperity and place in the world. The bloc is deeply integrated into global markets both for the products it sources and the exports it sells. The EU trade policy is an important element of the external dimension of the ‘Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ and is one of the main pillars of the EU’s relations with the rest of the world.

Because the 28 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organization, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced, and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.

The openness of the EU’s trade regime has meant that the EU is the biggest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.