Eurozone Trade Surplus Reaches 13.9 Billion Euros in May

In May, the Eurozone's international trade in goods recorded a surplus of 13.9 billion euros, according to Eurostat, the official European statistics body. This figure shows significant improvement compared to May 2023, which reported a trade deficit of 400 million euros. However, market analysts had anticipated an even larger surplus of approximately 18 billion euros for May 2024.

Within the entire European Union, the trade surplus for the same month was 9.7 billion euros, a turnaround from the 2.6 billion euros deficit reported a year earlier.

In terms of exports, the Eurozone saw a year-on-year decline of 0.5% in May, totaling 241.5 billion euros. The EU as a whole experienced a more pronounced drop, with exports falling by 6.2% to 206.5 billion euros. This downturn was primarily attributed to reduced sales of machinery and vehicles, which dropped by 7.7%. In contrast, cross-border sales of chemicals increased by 10.5%, while food and beverages rose by 1.2%, energy by 2.3%, and raw materials saw a 7% increase.

On the import side, the Eurozone experienced a notable decrease of 6.4% in May compared to the previous year, with imports totaling 227.6 billion euros. The overall EU imports also declined by 6.2% to 206.5 billion euros, driven largely by drops in machinery and vehicle imports (down 9.2%), energy products (down 5.7%), chemicals (down 3%), and raw materials (down 6.4%).

Regarding trade with major partners, EU imports from China fell by 8.7% in May year-on-year, while imports from the UK and Switzerland each decreased by 14%. Conversely, imports from the United States rose by 4.9%. Exports to the US increased by 6.8%, while those to the UK and China fell by 0.5% and 5.3%, respectively.