The Eurozone Posted a Trade Surplus of 27.9 Billion in July

The Eurozone registered a surplus of 27.9 billion euros in its trade in July. Meanwhile, the European Union ended the month with a positive balance of 25.8 billion euros on Wednesday.

Covid-19 containment measures widely introduced by member states continued to have a notable impact on international trade in goods in July.

Although imports and exports began to recover in June after the significant drop registered in April and May, the levels are still below those observed in the same period of the previous year.

In the Eurozone, exports of goods to the rest of the world in July amounted to 185.2 billion euros. That is 10.4% less than in the same month of 2019, while imports stood at 157.3 billion, 13.4% less.

However, this shows a positive balance of 27.9 billion euros. Which was higher than the 23.2 billion of the previous year, according to Eurostat’s first estimates.

Trade between member states of the single currency fell by 8.6% compared to July 2019, to 153.7 billion.

In the EU, exports were also 11.3% lower than those registered in July 2019, amounting to 168,500 million euros. Meanwhile, imports were 16% lower, standing at 142,600 million.

However, the surplus generated was 25,800 million euros, higher than the 20,200 million registered in 2019.

The intra-EU trade fell up to 239,200 million. It has been a 7.4% decrease compared to the previous year. 

On the other hand, between January and July 2020, exports of goods from the Eurozone declined by 12.4% to 1.19 trillion euros, compared to the same period in 2019. A trade surplus amounted to 113 billion euros, compared to 119.3 billion in the same period last year.

Exports fell by 12.2%, to 1.09 billion euros, in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, while imports decreased by 13.1% 990,000 million. This shows a positive balance of 99.7 billion euros through July, lower than the 101.8 billion in 2019.

Imports declined in all EU countries

The effect of the pandemic is also noticeable in the comparison of the member states. Their exports dropped compared to the previous year except for Malta(they increased by 16.1%), Slovenia (10.6%), Estonia (9.4%), and Slovakia (8.8%).

The main decreases were observed in Greece (23.8%), Finland (19.6%), France (19.5%), and Croatia (19.2%).

Imports fell in all EU countries, especially in Cyprus (32.7%), Austria (31.7%), and Portugal (30.1%), except for Ireland, which saw a slight increase of 2.7%.