Exports of machinery & vehicles reached €1 013 billion

In 2024, EU exports reached €2 583 billion, higher than the €2 437 billion registered for imports, resulting in a surplus of €146 billion. 

Based on the overall share in EU trade in 2024, machinery and vehicles was the most significant goods category (based on the standard international trade classification (SITC)), with exports reaching €1 013 billion (39.2% of all exports) and imports €801 billion (32.9 % of all imports), resulting in a €212 billion surplus. This product type was followed by chemicals and related products, with €560 billion in exports (21.7% of exports) and €322 billion in imports (13.2% of imports), resulting in the highest trade surplus in 2024 among these categories, at €237 billion. Food, drinks and tobacco also registered a trade surplus of €52 billion (€209 billion in exports; €157 billion in imports). 

Other product types, such as mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials and raw materials, registered a trade deficit. For mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, the deficit was significant at €355 billion (€131 billion in exports; €466 billion in imports), while for raw materials it was smaller at €28 billion (€68 billion in exports; €96 billion in imports). Finally for other manufactured goods, there was an even smaller deficit of €11 billion (€558 billion in exports; €569 billion in imports).

Source dataset: ext_lt_intratrd

When looking at specific products, medicinal and pharmaceutical products stand out, as their share in total exports rose by 7.1 percentage points (pp) to 12.1%. On the other hand, the share of iron and steel fell slightly (-0.6 pp to 1.5%), as did the share of motor cars (-1.3 pp to 6.4%) and articles of apparel and clothing accessories (-0.4 pp to 1.5%).

For imports, the share for medicinal and pharmaceutical products in total imports rose only by 1.4 pp to 4.6%, somewhat more than the increase for motor cars (+0.3 pp to 2.9%) and iron and steel (+0.3 pp to 1.7%), while articles of apparel and clothing accessories dropped slightly (-0.2 pp to 3.5%). These changes should be interpreted with caution, as they are the result of a combination of changes in quantities as well as changes in prices.

Source dataset: ds-059331