Back Where do our toys come from?

5 December 2017

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The European Union (EU) is a net importer of toys from the rest of the world. EU exports to non-EU countries are five times lower than imports from non-EU countries. In 2016, the EU imported toys worth almost €7.2 billion and exported only about €1.5 billion to non-EU countries. The value of toys imported to the EU has grown by almost 70 % over the last ten years.

 

EU mainly imports toys from China

China is the biggest supplier of toys to the EU, accounting for 85% of toy imports in 2016, far ahead of Hong Kong (4%) and Vietnam (2%). More than half of EU imports of toys went to the United Kingdom (27%), Germany (16%) and the Netherlands (10%).

 

EU mainly exports toys to Switzerland, Russia and the United States

The main non-EU destinations are Switzerland, Russia (both accounting for 15% of toy exports) and the United States (13%). Together these countries account for almost half of the value of exports. Over half of the toys exported from the EU come from the Czech Republic (32%) and Germany (20%).

 

EU trade in toys

The source dataset is available here