Muhammed Ali Gürtaş
15 January 2018•Update: 15 January 2018
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA
The European Union's foreign trade balance recorded an €8-billion ($9.4-billion) surplus in November 2017, according to Eurostat on Monday.
The EU28’s exports of goods in November last year was €167.2 billion ($195.6 billion), up 6.8 percent year-on-year, while imports from the rest of the world stood at €159.2 billion ($186.2 billion) with a 5.4 percent yearly increase.
The foreign trade surplus in November last year showed a 45 percent increase, compared with €5.5 billion ($5.94 billion) in the same month in 2016.
Official data also showed intra-EU28 trade last November climbed by 6.9 percent on a yearly basis, reaching some €300 billion($352 billion).
The average EUR/USD exchange rate was around 1.17 in November last year, while 1 euro was trading for $1.08 on average in November 2016.
Last year, from January to November, EU28 exports to the rest of the world reached some €1.72 trillion ($1.92 trillion), marking an 8.7 percent rise over the same period in 2016, while imports stood at around €1.7 trillion ($1.9 trillion) with an 8.7 percent yearly hike.
The EU28 eleven-month foreign trade balance in 2017 recorded a surplus of €12.1 billion ($13.5 billion) and trade volume within 28 member countries rose 7.5 percent year-on-year to approximately €3.1 trillion($3.4 trillion).
The average euro/dollar exchange rate was around 1.12 in the Jan.-Nov. period last year.
According to Eurostat, the U.S. was the top export destination for the EU28 with exports worth €343.6 billion ($384.8 billion), which accounts for nearly 20 percent of the 28 countries’ exports between Jan.-Nov. last year.
Official data showed China, Switzerland, Russia and Turkey following the U.S. in the list of main export markets of the EU.
Over the same period, the EU28 imported most from China -- valued at €342.6 billion ($383.7 billion) amounting to some 20 percent of total imports -- while the U.S., Russia, Switzerland and Norway were the EU28’s top import partners.
