The chemical industry is of major importance to the EU economy. It also plays an important role in international trade. Among the world’s main trade actors, the EU was by far the leader in chemical products in 2016 — due in particular to its exports — with a total trade value of EUR 499 billion, followed by the United States (EUR 389 billion), China (EUR 258 billion) and Japan (EUR 117 billion).
The United States (27 % of total EU exports of chemicals), Switzerland (10 %) and China (7 %) were the leading destinations for EU exports of chemicals in 2016. Chemicals imported by the EU came mostly from the United States (31 % of total EU imports of chemicals), followed by Switzerland (21 %) and China (6 %).
Due to its strong exports, the EU had a growing trade surplus in chemicals throughout the 2007–2016 period. The surplus grew from EUR 76 billion in 2007 to EUR 128 billion in 2016, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 6 %
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Further information is provided in the Statistics Explained article Production and international trade in chemicals.