The Eurozone (EA16) trade balance with the rest of the world in September 2009 was a €3.7bn surplus, compared with -€6.0bn in September 2008. The August 2009 balance was -€2.3bn, compared with -€10.8bn in August 2008. In the month of September, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 5.5% and imports by 1.1%. The first estimate for the September 2009 extra-EU27 trade balance was a €11.2bn deficit, compared with -€24.5bn in September 2008. In August 20092 the balance was -€12.0bn, compared with -28.5bn in August 2008. In the month of September, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 3.4% and imports by 2.2%.

These data were issued by EU statistics office, Eurostat.

The EU27 deficit decreased for energy (-€152.3bn in January-August 2009 compared with -€261.1bn in January-August 2008) and for raw materials (-€12.1bn compared with -€27.5bn). The surplus fell for machinery and vehicles (+€68.6bn compared with +€100.9bn), but rose for chemicals (+53.6bn compared with +51.0bn).

EU27 trade flows with all of its major partners fell. The largest decreases were recorded for exports to Russia (-€40% in January-August 2009 compared with January-August 2008), Turkey (-28%), South Korea and Brazil (both -23%), the USA and Norway (both -20%), and for imports from Russia (-43%), Norway (-31%), Japan (-29%), Brazil (-28%) and Turkey (-26%).

The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+€26.1bn in January-August 2009 compared with +€42.6bn in January-August 2008) and Switzerland (+€8.6bn compared with +12.2 bn). The EU27 trade deficit decreased with China (-€86.4bn compared with -€102.5bn), Russia (-€29.1bn compared with -€55.2bn), Norway (-€21.9bn compared with -€36.5 bn) and Japan (-€13.0bn compared with -€22.9bn).

The largest surplus was observed in Germany (+€81.3bn in January-August 2009), followed by Ireland (+€25.9bn) and the Netherlands (+€23.2bn). The UK (-€61.3bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-€34.5bn), Spain (-€31.4bn), Greece (-€19.0bn) and Portugal (-€11.6bn).

In the year to august, Irish imports plunged 23% while a surge in pharmaceutical production offset dips in other export sectors.

The Eurozone (EA16) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).