Euro area goods exports up in Q1

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Nineteen of the 28 EU member states which use euro as their common currency exported goods worth €555.7 billion ($683.5 billion) in the first quarter of 2018, up 2.5 percent over the same period from a year earlier, Eurostat announced Friday.

Imports of goods in the Euro area, or the Eurozone, in Q1 rose 1.4 percent, from €499.2 billion ($534.1 billion) to €506.3 billion ($622.75 billion), Eurostat said.

The area's international goods trade surplus stood at €49.4 billion ($60.76 billion) during the January-March period.

Q1 trade within the Euro area totaled some €485.6 billion ($597.3 billion), a 4.1 percent rise year-on-year.

European Union's (EU28) goods exports and imports rose by 1.5 and 0.8 percent to reach €471.4 billion ($579.8 billion) and €477.4 billion ($587.2 billion), respectively, in the same period.

The EU28's goods trade deficit was €6.1 billion ($7.5 billion) during the first three months of 2018.

Trade of goods among the 28 EU member countries reached €874.1 billion ($1.075 trillion), increasing 3.7 percent in Q1 year-on-year.

Germany was the top exporter of goods -- both in trade within the union and with the rest of the world -- with €328.9 billion ($404.5 billion). The Netherlands with €148.8 billion ($183 billion), and France, with €122 billion ($150 billion), followed Germany.

The U.S., China, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, Japan, Norway, South Korea, India and Canada were the top trade partners for the EU28 in Q1.

Turkey's exports to the EU28 were up by 6.8 percent to reach €18.8 billion ($23.1 billion) and its imports from the EU28 were €22.3 billion ($27.4 billion), up 13.8 percent y-o-y in Q1.

March data

In March, exports of goods from the EA19 and the EU28 decreased by 2.9 percent and 2.4 percent year-on-year to reach €199.9 billion ($245.87 billion) and €172.1 billion ($211.7 billion), respectively.

Goods trade surplus in the EA19 and the EU28 was €26.9 billion ($33.1 billion) and €11.5 billion ($14.1 billion), respectively.

Intra-EA19 and intra-EU28's goods trade dropped by 0.6 percent and 1.7 percent y-o-y to reach €170.5 billion ($209.7 billion) and €305.2 billion ($375.4 billion), respectively, in Q1.