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Archive:Japan-EU – international trade in goods statistics

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Data extracted in March 2020
Planned article update: March 2021

Highlights

Japan was both the fourth largest exporter and the fourth largest importer in the world in 2018.
In 2019, Japan was the seventh largest partner for EU exports of goods (3 %) and also the seventh largest partner for EU imports of goods (3 %).
Among EU Member States, Germany was both the largest importer of goods from and the largest exporter of goods to Japan.
Dynamic chart file missing

This article provides a picture of the international trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and Japan. 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

EU and Japan in world trade in goods

Figure 1 shows the world's largest traders fo goods. Japan (EUR 626 billion, 5 %) was the fourth largest exporter in the world, preceded by China (EUR 2 107 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 1 908 billion, 14 %) and the United States (EUR 1 412 billion, 11 %) and followed by South Korea (EUR 513 billion, 4 %). Japan (EUR 634 billion, 5 %) also was the fourth largest importer in the world, preceded by the United States (EUR 2 214 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 2 060 billion, 15 %) and China (EUR 1 810 billion, 13 %) and followed by the United Kingdom (EUR 571 billion, 4 %).

Figure 1: Japan among the world's largest traders of goods, 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD


The imports and exports of goods of the EU and Japan indexed at 100 in 2008 for the period to 2018 are shown in Figure 2. It also shows the cover ratio (exports / imports) for this period. Exports from the EU were lowest in 2009 (83) and highest in 2018 (145). Imports to the EU were lowest in 2009 (77) and highest in 2018 (123). The cover ratio for the EU was lowest in 2008 (91 %) and highest in 2016 (116 %) and was 108 % in 2018. Exports from Japan were lowest in 2009 (74) and highest in 2011 (105) and were 94 in 2018. Imports to Japan were lowest in 2009 (72) and highest in 2012 (116) and were 98 in 2018. The cover ratio for Japan was lowest in 2014 (85 %) and highest in 2010 (111 %) and was 99 % in 2018.

Figure 2: Trade in goods of the EU-27 and Japan, 2008 to 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD


Both exports to and imports from Japan increased between 2009 and 2019.

The position of Japan among the largest trade partners of the EU in 2019 can be seen in Figure 3. The four largest export partners of the EU were the United States (18 %), the United Kingdom (15 %), China (9 %) and Switzerland (7 %). The four largest import partners of the EU were China (19 %), the United States (12 %), the United Kingdom (10 %) and Russia (7 %). Figure 3b has some more details. It shows that Japan (EUR 61 billion, 2.9 %) was the seventh largest export partner of the EU, between Turkey (EUR 68 billion, 3.2 %) and Norway (EUR 52 billion, 2.4 %). In imports Japan (EUR 63 billion, 3.3 %) was the seventh largest partner of the EU, between Turkey (EUR 70 billion, 3.6 %) and Norway (EUR 54 billion, 2.8 %).


Figure 3a: Japan among the EU-27's main partners for trade in goods, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995
Figure 3b: Top trade in goods partners of the EU-27 with a focus on Japan, 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

Figure 4 shows the exports, imports and trade balance between the EU and Japan from 2009 to 2019. In 2009, the EU had a trade deficit with Japan of EUR 18 billion. This changed more than once during the whole period. In 2019 there was a deficit of EUR 2 billion. Both exports to and imports from Japan increased between 2009 and 2019. EU exports to Japan were highest in 2019 (EUR 61 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 32 billion). EU imports from Japan were highest in 2019 (EUR 63 billion) and lowest in 2013 (EUR 49 billion).

Figure 4: EU-27 trade in goods with Japan, 2009-2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


EU-Japan trade by type of goods

The breakdown of EU trade with Japan by SITC groups is shown in Figure 5. The red shades denote the primary products: food & drink, raw materials and energy, while the blue shades show the manufactured goods: chemicals, machinery & vehicles and other manufactured goods. Finally, other goods are shown in green. In 2019, EU exports of manufactured goods (82 %) had a higher share than primary goods (15 %). The most exported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (38 %), followed by chemicals (22 %) and other manufactured products (22 %). In 2019, EU imports of manufactured goods (97 %) also had a higher share than primary goods (2 %). The most imported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (67 %), followed by other manufactured products (19 %) and chemicals (12 %).

Figure 5: EU-27 trade with Japan by product group, 2009 and 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


Figure 6 shows the evolution of EU imports and exports by SITC group since 2009. In 2019, the EU had trade surpluses in food & drink (EUR 6.5 billion), chemicals (EUR 6.3 billion), other products (EUR 1.8 billion), other manufactured products (EUR 1.3 billion) and raw materials (EUR 1.3 billion). The EU had trade deficits in energy (EUR 0.1 billion) and machinery & vehicles (EUR 18.7 billion).

Figure 6: EU-27 trade with Japan by group, 2009-2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


EU-Japan most traded goods

More detail about the goods exchanged between the EU and Japan is given in Figure 7, showing the 20 most traded goods at SITC-3 level. These top 20 goods covered 60 % of total trade in goods in 2019. 13 belonged to machinery and vehicles, four to chemicals, two to other manufactured products and one to food and drink. The most traded product group at this level was motor cars and motor vehicles. Another interesting way to look at the data is to investigate the cover ratio (exports / imports) of traded goods, showing the direction of the trade flows between the two economies. These ratios can be found in the right-hand margin of Figure 7. Eight products were below 50 %, indicating EU imports from Japan were at least twice as large as EU exports to Japan. Four products were above 200 %, indicating EU exports to Japan were at least twice as large as EU imports from Japan. Eight products were between 50 % and 200 %, showing more balanced trade.

Figure 7: Most traded products between EU-27 and Japan, 2019 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat DS-018995


Trade with Japan by Member State

Table 1a shows the imports of goods from Japan by Member State. The three largest importers from Japan in the EU were Germany (EUR 16 974 million), Belgium (EUR 11 183 million) and the Netherlands (EUR 10 423 million). Luxembourg (13.8 %) had the highest share for Japan in its extra-EU imports.

Table 1a: EU-27 imports of goods from Japan, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


Table 1b shows the exports of goods to Japan by Member State. The three largest exporters to Japan in the EU were Germany (EUR 20 974 million), France (EUR 7 743 million) and Italy (EUR 7 740 million). Malta (10.2 %) had the highest share for Japan in its extra-EU exports.

Table 1b: EU-27 exports of goods to Japan, 2019
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


The trade in goods balance between the EU Member States and Japan is shown in Table 1c. It shows that 14 Member States had a trade surplus with Japan. The largest surplus was held by Germany (EUR 4 000 million), followed by Italy (EUR 3 624 million) and Ireland (EUR 2 106 million). There were 13 Member States that had a trade deficit with Japan. The largest deficit was held by Belgium (EUR 7 558 million), followed by the Netherlands (EUR 5 842 million) and Poland (EUR 1 238 million).

Table 1c: EU-27 trade balance of goods with Japan, 2019 (EUR million)
Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995


Source data for tables and graphs



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 27 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 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 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 27 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.

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Main tables

International trade in goods - long-term indicators (t_ext_go_lti)
International trade in goods - short-term indicators (t_ext_go_sti)

Database

International trade in goods - aggregated data (ext_go_agg)
International trade in goods - long-term indicators (ext_go_lti)
International trade in goods - short-term indicators (ext_go_sti)
International trade in goods - detailed data (detail)
EU trade since 1988 by SITC (DS-018995)

Dedicated section

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