Archive:India-EU – international trade in goods statistics

Data extracted in March 2020

Planned article update: March 2021

Highlights

In 2019, India was the eleventh largest partner for EU exports of goods (2 %) and the tenth largest partner for EU imports of goods (2 %).

Among EU Member States, Germany was both the largest importer of goods from and the largest exporter of goods to India.

Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

This article provides a picture of the international 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

EU and India in world trade in goods

Figure 1a shows the position of India among the largest traders of goods in the world in 2018. The four largest exporters were China (EUR 2 107 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 1 908 billion, 14 %), the United States (EUR 1 412 billion, 11 %) and Japan (EUR 626 billion, 5 %). The four largest importers were the United States (EUR 2 214 billion, 16 %), the EU-27 (EUR 2 060 billion, 15 %), China (EUR 1 810 billion, 13 %) and Japan (EUR 634 billion, 5 %). Figure 1b has some more details. It shows that India (EUR 275 billion, 2 %) was the 13^th largest exporter in the world between Taiwan (EUR 285 billion, 2 %) and the United Arab Emirates (EUR 269 billion, 2 %). It was the eighth largest importer in the world (EUR 436 billion, 3 %) between South Korea (EUR 454 billion, 3 %) and Mexico (EUR 404 billion, 3 %).

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

Figure 1b: Top traders in goods with a focus on India, 2018 (EUR billion)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle) and UNCTAD

The imports and exports of goods of the EU and India 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 India were lowest in 2009 (85) and highest in 2018 (167). Imports to India were lowest in 2009 (80) and highest in 2018 (160). The cover ratio for India was lowest in 2012 (61 %) and highest in 2016 (73 %) and was 63 % in 2018.

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

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

The position of India among the largest trade partners of the EU in 2019 can be seen in Figure 3a. 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 India (EUR 38.2 billion, 1.8 %) was the eleventh largest export partner of the EU, between Canada (EUR 38.3 billion, 1.8 %) and Mexico (EUR 37.6 billion, 1.8 %). In imports India (EUR 39.6 billion, 2.0 %) was the tenth largest partner of the EU, between South Korea (EUR 47.4 billion, 2.5 %) and Vietnam (EUR 34.4 billion, 1.8 %).

Figure 3a: India 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 India, 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 India from 2009 to 2019. In 2009, the EU had a trade surplus with India of EUR 3 billion. The trade surplus remained throughout the whole period until 2019 when it turned to a deficit of EUR 1 billion. Both exports to and imports from India increased between 2009 and 2019. EU exports to India were highest in 2018 (EUR 40 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 24 billion). EU imports from India were highest in 2019 (EUR 40 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 21 billion).

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

EU-India trade by type of goods

Source: Eurostat (ext_st_eu27_2019sitc) and Comext DS-018995

The breakdown of EU trade with India 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 (90 %) had a higher share than primary goods (7 %). The most exported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (44 %), followed by other manufactured products (30 %) and chemicals (16 %). In 2019, EU imports of manufactured goods (81 %) also had a higher share than primary goods (18 %). The most imported manufactured goods were other manufactured products (45 %), followed by chemicals (19 %) and machinery & vehicles (18 %).

Figure 5: EU-27 trade with India 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 machinery & vehicles (EUR 10 billion), other products (EUR 1 billion) and raw materials (EUR 1 billion). The EU had trade deficits in chemicals (EUR 1 billion), food & drink (EUR 2 billion), energy (EUR 3 billion) and other manufactured products (EUR 6 billion).

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

EU-India most traded goods

More detail about the goods exchanged between the EU and India is given in Figure 7, showing the 20 most traded goods at SITC-3 level. These top 20 goods covered 45 % of total trade in goods in 2019. Eight belonged to machinery and vehicles, seven to other manufactured products, four to chemicals and one to energy. The most traded product group at this level was pearls and (semi-) precious stones. 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 India were at least twice as large as EU exports to India. Seven products were above 200 %, indicating EU exports to India were at least twice as large as EU imports from India. Five products were between 50 % and 200 %, showing more balanced trade.

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

Trade with India by Member State

Table 1a shows the imports of goods from India by Member State. The three largest importers from India in the EU were Germany (EUR 7 522 million), the Netherlands (EUR 5 310 million) and France (EUR 5 261 million). Malta (5.2 %) had the highest share for India in its extra-EU imports.

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

Table 1b shows the exports of goods to India by Member State. The three largest exporters to India in the EU were Germany (EUR 11 920 million), Belgium (EUR 6 678 million) and France (EUR 5 773 million). Belgium (4.8 %) had the highest share for India in its extra-EU exports.

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

The trade in goods balance between the EU Member States and India is shown in Table 1c. It shows that nine Member States had a trade surplus with India. The largest surplus was held by Germany (EUR 4 398 million), followed by Belgium (EUR 2 076 million) and Sweden (EUR 523 million). There were 18 Member States that had a trade deficit with India. The largest deficit was held by the Netherlands (EUR 2 957 million), followed by Spain (EUR 2 607 million) and Italy (EUR 1 154 million).

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

Source data for tables and graphs

EU-27 - India 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 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.

The EU-27 data reflect the political change in the EU composition. Therefore the United Kingdom is considered as an extra-EU partner country for the EU-27. However, the United Kingdom is still part of the internal market until the end of the transitory period, meaning that data on trade with the United Kingdom are still based on statistical concepts applicable to trade between the EU Member States. As a consequence, while imports from any other extra-EU-27 trade partner are grouped by country of origin, the United Kingdom data reflect country of consignment. In practice this means that the goods imported by the EU-27 from the United Kingdom were physically transported from the United Kingdom but part of these goods could have been of other origin than the United Kingdom. For this reason data on trade with the United Kingdom are not fully comparable with data on trade with other extra-EU-27 trade partners.

Data for the non EU-27 countries used in figures 1-3 are taken from the UNCTAD database of the United Nations. 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: UNCTAD).

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 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.