a large group of containers piled up on top of each other

In 2023, exports of goods from EU countries to other EU countries stood at €4 135 billion, a decrease of 2.4% compared to 2022.

When looking at the long-term evolution by month, exports of goods within the EU showed significant fluctuations during the financial and COVID-19 crises. 

In particular, during the pandemic crisis, exports dropped dramatically between February 2020 and April 2020, before recovering in the subsequent months and reaching a peak in August 2022. From September 2022 onwards, the exports of goods within the EU started to decrease gradually, standing at €337 billion in December 2023.

Intra EU exports of goods, January 2002 - December 2023. Line graph. For more information click dataset below.

Source dataset: ext_st_eu27_2020sitc

Germany: main intra-EU trade partner in 2023

In 2023, Germany was ranked as the main trade partner for exports within the EU. 

For most of the EU countries, their top 3 partners for intra-EU exports made up more than 50% of the total share exports of goods.

Main EU partners for exports of goods by EU country, 2023. Bar chart. For more information click dataset below.

Source dataset: DS-018995

The 3 EU countries that most frequently ranked as the top 3 intra-EU export partners were Germany (25 times), followed by Italy (10 times) and France (9 times).

For more information

Methodological notes:

The main categories of the Standard international trade classification (SITC) are used for this article: 

  • food, drinks and tobacco (sections 0 and 1 - including live animals);
  • raw materials (sections 2 and 4);
  • energy products (section 3);
  • chemicals (section 5);
  • machinery and transport equipment (section 7);
  • other manufactured goods (sections 6 and 8);
  • other goods (section 9). 

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