The euro area trade balance revealed a $15.20 billion (13.9 billion euro) surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in May 2024 compared to a deficit of 0.4 billion euros a year earlier.
The latest data from Eurostat reveals that exports of goods to the rest of the world in May 2024 declined 0.5 percent annually to 241.5 billion euros while imports declined 6.4 percent to 227.6 billion euros.
In May 2024, the euro area’s trade surplus slightly declined from 14.2 billion euros in April to 13.9 billion euros. The statistics agency attributes this decline to a 1.7 billion euro dip in the surplus for machinery and vehicles. Chemicals also saw a 1.3 billion euro decline with other manufactured goods offsetting this decline with a rise of 2.6 billion euros.
In the first five months of 2024, the euro area recorded a trade surplus of 84.9 billion euros, up from a 21 billion euro decline in the January-May 2023 period. During this period, exports of goods to the rest of the world rose 0.5 percent to 1,194.5 billion euros while imports declined 8.3 percent to 1,109.7 billion euros.
The data also reveals that intra-euro area trade fell to 1,090.6 billion euros in January-May 2024, down by 5.2 percent compared to January-May 2023.
Read: India’s exports rise 5.4 percent to $65.47 billion in June, set to reach $800 billion
EU trade surplus hits 9.7 billion euros
Notably, the EU’s balance revealed a 9.7 billion euro surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in May 2024, compared with a deficit of 2.6 billion euros in May 2023. Extra-EU exports of goods in May 2024 declined 0.6 percent to 216.3 billion euros while imports declined 6.2 percent to 206.5 billion euros.
From January to May 2024, extra-EU exports of goods rose to 1,068.8 billion euros and imports fell to 994.7 billion euros. As a result, the EU recorded a surplus of 74.2 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 36.0 billion euros in January-May 2023. Meanwhile, intra-EU trade fell 4.2 percent to 1,707.1 billion in January-May 2024.
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