EU chemicals exports, imports fall in January on renewed lockdowns, Brexit impact

LONDON (ICIS)–Chemicals exports from EU countries to the rest of the world fell in January, in line with overall trade in goods which took a hit from renewed measures to slow down the spread of the pandemic, said Eurostat on Thursday.

Imports of chemicals into the EU took a hit of 16.5%, although the overall volumes of imports were around half of those in exports.

Eurostat also confirmed how the UK’s withdrawal from the EU’s Single Market on 1 January affected trade in goods between the two areas, in line with figures published by the UK’s national statistics body earlier this week.

The EU has traditionally been a net exporter of chemicals, with chemicals output in several countries within the bloc – notably Germany – being key in the global chemicals trade.

Several EU countries, including Germany or France, were in January under lockdown measures as the pandemic was spreading again; those lockdown measures remain in place, while as of this week Italy has also gone into stricter measures.

Chemicals output also took a hit in January across the 27-country, although overall industrial output managed to keep in the positive, said Eurostat earlier in March.

The fall in chemicals exports was the smallest among chemicals-intensive manufacturing sectors like machinery and vehicles production, which fell more than 12%.

The trade surplus for the EU’s chemicals industry widened in January, to €17.1bn, as imports fell by a larger percentage than exports.

EU international trade in goods (in €/bn)	Exports Jan 2021	Exports Jan 2020	Change	Imports Jan 2021	Imports Jan 2020	Change
Chemicals	35.4	34.4	-2.8%	20.6	17.2	-16.5%
Machinery and vehicles	63.5	55.6	-12.4%	54.2	47.8	-11.8%
Other manufactured goods	37.4	32.9	-12.0%	42.3	36.0	-14.9%
Other	3.6	3.3	-8.3%	3.0	2.6	-13.3%
Total manufactured goods	136.3	122.8	-9.9%	117.1	101.0	-13.7%
Total EU (includes primary goods)	166.2	148.3	-10.8%	168.4	139.9	-16.9%

BREXIT DEAL IMPACT
Eurostat also confirmed the sharp fall in UK-EU trade in goods as the Brexit trade deal kicked off on 1 January, mirroring statistics published by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The sharp falls, however, should be taking with a pinch of salt, according to analysts, as one month would not be representative, especially as previous stocking and global logistics woes are taken into consideration.