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The eurozone's monthly trade surplus hit a record high at the start of the year, due to a sharp fall in energy import prices and an increase in exports.
The single currency area's trade balance in goods reached a seasonally and calendar-adjusted surplus of 28 billion euros in January, the highest level since the EU's statistical agency Eurostat started compiling the data in 2002. became.
This recovery reflects a similar improvement in Germany's trade balance, underscoring how the huge terms of trade shock caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine is beginning to unwind, and That's good news for the economy.
Last year, the eurozone recorded a trade surplus of 64 billion euros, a significant improvement from the record 335 billion euro trade deficit it suffered in 2022 when natural gas and oil prices soared.
Eurozone energy imports fell by a third in the year to January due to recent falls in oil and gas prices.
Klaus Vistesen, an economist at consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the latest figures meant a “significant increase in net trade” was expected in the eurozone in the first quarter.
But he warned that this was unlikely to continue, predicting “some restraint in net export growth until 2024”. Mr Bystesen warned that the euro zone's recent trade balance improvement “does not appear to be sustainable”, with the euro zone's trade deficit with OPEC oil cartel members reaching its lowest level in almost three years by 600 million yen. He pointed out that the amount had decreased to 8 million euros.
Eurozone exports rose 2.1% in January from the previous month, driven by growth in shipments to most major markets except the United States.
Intraregional imports fell 4% month-on-month in January, with shipments from most markets, including Asia, the United States and OPEC countries, down sharply.
The politically sensitive trade balance with China improved to a deficit of 10.6 billion euros in January due to a sharp decline in monthly shipments from China and a slight increase in exports in the other direction, the largest deficit in the last three years. reached its lowest level.
However, a recent surge in imports of cheap Chinese-made electric vehicles has raised concerns about the future of European automakers. Last year, the city of Brussels launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imported EVs from China after China's share of the European market expanded to 8% from 1% in 2019.
The biggest growth in EU exports over the past year was to Japan, which rose by 10%, followed by the US by 8.5% and the UK by 2.5%. However, exports to China fell by 3% during the same period.
Germany accounted for most of the improvement in the eurozone's trade balance, after the eurozone's largest economy posted an overall trade surplus of 27.5 billion euros in January, the highest in more than six years. The trade surplus with non-EU countries increased to 12.9 billion euros.
