EU chemicals trade balance surplus with US falls by 4.9%

25 November 2011 12:31  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--The EU’s chemicals trade balance surplus with the US in January-June 2011 fell 4.9% year on year, as imports and exports grew slightly during the six-month period, a statistics agency said on Friday.

Figures released by Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU, showed that the 27-member EU’s trade balance surplus with the US for chemical goods fell to €9.72bn ($13bn) between January and June, compared with a surplus of €10.2bn in the same period last year.

EU exports of chemical products to the US during the period increased by 2.5% year on year to €29.9bn, while imports grew by 6.4% to €20.2bn, Eurostat said.

With regards to overall trade, the US remained the EU's largest trading partner for both goods and services at the end of the first half of 2011, it said.

The EU trade surplus with the US increased from €31.2bn in the first six months of 2010 to €35.3bn in the same period of 2011.

“However, there has been a steady decline in the share of the US in total EU trade in goods over the last decade,” Eurostat added.

“While in 2000, the US accounted for 28% of total EU exports and 21% of imports, by 2010 these shares had fallen to 18% and 11% respectively,” it said.

EU trade in goods with the US (€m)

	Exports		Imports		Balance
	Jan-Jun 10	Jan-Jun 11	Jan-Jun 10	Jan-Jun 11	Jan-Jun 10	Jan-Jun 11
Chemicals	29,191	29,907	18,972	20,186	10,219	9,721
Total	113,835	128,839	82,666	93,575	31,169	35,264

($1 = €0.75)

By: Franco Capaldo
+44 (0)20 8652 3214

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