Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - South - international trade in goods statistics

Data extracted in November 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: November 2016.

This article is part of an online publication and provides data on statistics covering international trade in goods for the 10 countries that form the European Neighbourhood Policy-South (ENP-South) region, namely, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. The article highlights some of the key indicators for tracing developments in international trade, with information on exports, imports and the trade balance. It also presents an analysis of international trade by selected product groups (based on the SITC) and an analysis of the ENP-South countries’ trade positions with the European Union (EU).

Table 1: International trade in goods, 2004, 2009 and 2014
(million EUR)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intratrd) and (med_ecet) and United Nations (Comtrade)

Table 2: Exports by broad group of goods, 2014
(% of total exports)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intratrd) and (med_ecet)

Table 3: Imports by broad group of goods, 2014
(% of total imports)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intratrd) and (med_ecet)

Figure 1: Trade in goods with the EU-28, 2014
(% of reporting country's total exports and imports accounted for by the EU-28)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intratrd) and (med_ecet) and United Nations (Comtrade)

Main statistical findings

Trade balance

Algeria was the only ENP-South country that did not record a trade deficit in 2014

The EU-28 ran a trade surplus for goods with non-member countries in 2014, valued at EUR 18.0 billion. By contrast, all of the ENP-South countries for which data are available recorded trade deficits in 2014, with the exception of Algeria. Imports of goods exceeded exports by as much as EUR 24.3 billion in Egypt (2013 data), while Morocco, Lebanon and Jordan recorded trade deficits of more than EUR 10 billion. By contrast, exports of goods from Algeria were valued at EUR 1.7 billion more than its imports (see Table 1). The trade performance of Algeria was dominated by its exports of mineral fuels (petroleum and gas), lubricants and related materials.

The EU-28’s exports of goods increased by four fifths (80 %) in current price terms over the period 2004–14, while imports increased by nearly two thirds (64 %), the difference in these growth rates moving the EU-28 from a trade deficit for goods to a trade surplus. There was also an expansion in the level of both imports and exports across each of the ENP-South countries (for which data are available) during this period, despite sometimes large reductions in international trade during the financial and economic crisis. Particularly strong export growth between 2004 and 2013 was recorded in Egypt where the value of exports rose more than three-fold, while exports more than doubled in Palestine and Morocco during the period 2004–14. Lebanon’s exports grew by 62 % over the same 10-year period, the smallest increase recorded among the ENP-South countries (no recent data available for Libya or Syria), while exports from Tunisia (2004–13), Israel and Algeria grew at a slower pace than in the EU-28.

The value of imports increased more than four-fold in Egypt between 2004 and 2013, while between 2004 and 2014 it trebled in Algeria, and at least doubled in Jordan, Morocco and Palestine. The smallest increase in imports was recorded in Israel, where imports were around two thirds (66 %) higher in 2014 than in 2004. All of the ENP-South countries recorded imports expanding at a faster pace than in the EU-28 during the 10-year period shown in Table 1.

The result of these developments was that Algeria’s trade surplus was considerably narrower in 2014 than it had been in 2004, while all other ENP-South countries reported larger trade deficits in 2014 (or the nearest available year) than in 2004, most notably Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.

Trade in goods analysed by broad group of product

There were considerable differences in the structure of the exports from ENP-South countries and those from the EU-28. The principal export categories for the EU-28 in 2014 included machinery and vehicles (41.6 % of all goods exported), other manufactured goods (22.7 %) and chemicals (16.4 %); together these three groups accounted for just over four fifths of the total value of EU-28 exports in 2014 (see Table 2). By contrast, mineral fuels, lubricants and related goods accounted for almost all of the value of exports from Algeria in 2014 and Libya (2010 data) and more than one quarter of the exports from Egypt (2013 data). The percentage of exports accounted for by food, drinks and tobacco was highest in Palestine (20.4 %) and Jordan (19.4 %) where this category represented approximately three times the share recorded in the EU-28 (6.3 % of total exports in 2014); in Morocco and Egypt (2013 data), the share of exports in this category was also more than double the share in the EU-28. Other manufactured goods accounted for nearly three fifths of the total exports from Palestine in 2014 and for more than two fifths of the total in Israel. Exports of chemicals accounted for just under one third of the total value of goods exported from Jordan in 2014.

Table 3 shows that the structure of imports was broadly comparable across most of the ENP-South countries and in relation to the EU-28. The three largest categories of imports (in value terms) were generally mineral fuels, lubricants and related goods; machinery and vehicles; other manufactured goods. Together these three groups accounted for just over three quarters (77.4 %) of the EU-28’s imports in 2014. The same pattern was observed for most of the ENP-South countries, with three exceptions: in Libya (2010 data) and Algeria imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related goods were particularly low, as were imports of machinery and vehicles in Palestine, such that in all three countries food, drink and tobacco appeared amongst the top three product groups. With the exceptions of Palestine and Jordan, the share of mineral fuels, lubricants and related goods in total imports was lower in the ENP-South countries than in the EU-28. This may, among others, be attributed to national supplies/endowments of energy sources, less demand for energy to heat homes, and lower motorisation rates.

Trade between the EU-28 and ENP-South countries

The EU-28 is a key partner for trade in goods with most ENP-South countries

There are generally close links between the EU-28 and many of the ENP-South countries in relation to the international trade of goods. This was particularly true for some of the Maghreb countries: in 2014, the EU-28 accounted for a majority of the total trade (imports plus exports) in goods with Tunisia (2013 data), Algeria and Morocco. By contrast, the EU-28 was relatively less important as a partner for Palestinian international trade, while the EU-28’s share of exports from Jordan and Lebanon was also relatively small.

Algeria (2014 data), Libya and Syria (both 2010 data) recorded positive trade balances for trade in goods with the EU-28. In all three of these cases the surplus could be attributed to the high value of exports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related goods.

Data sources and availability

The data for ENP-South countries are supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each country on a voluntary basis. The majority of the data presented in this article result from an annual data collection cycle that has been established by Eurostat. In 2015, data were not collected from either Libya or Syria. These statistics are available free-of-charge on Eurostat’s website, together with a range of different indicators covering most socio-economic areas. Some data for Lebanon, Libya and Syria have been compiled from the United Nations’ Comtrade database.

Tables in this article use the following notation:
Value in italics	data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is therefore likely to change;
:	not available, confidential or unreliable value.
–	not applicable.

Context

The EU seeks to promote the development of free-trade as an instrument for stimulating economic growth and enhancing competitiveness. International trade statistics are of prime importance for both public sector (international, EU and national decision makers) and private users (in particular, businesses who wish to analyse export market opportunities), as they provide valuable information on developments regarding the exchange of goods between specific geographic areas. These statistics enable the EU to monitor the growth of trade ties with its ENP partners, while they are also used by the European Commission to prepare multilateral and bilateral negotiations for common trade policies.

On 18 November 2015, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission jointly presented a review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (SWD(2015) 500 final) which underlined a new approach for the EU in relation to its eastern and southern neighbours, based on stabilising the region in political, economic, and security-related terms.

In cooperation with its ENP partners, Eurostat has the responsibility ‘to promote and implement the use of European and internationally recognised standards and methodology for the production of statistics necessary for developing and monitoring policy achievements in all policy areas’. Eurostat undertakes the task of coordinating EU efforts to increase the statistical capacity of the ENP countries. Additional information on the policy context of the ENP is provided here.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Southern European Neighbourhood Policy Country (ENP-South) (med), see:

Economy and finance (med_ec)

International trade as a share of gdp (med_ec4)

International trade by SITC - 1 000 EUR (med_ecet)

International trade data

External links

Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - South - international trade in goods statistics

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