The key facts

  • The eurozone's September deficit was €10.3 billion versus the expected €4.5 billion; a year earlier there was a €13.5 billion surplus
  • Exports rose 6% to €272.7 billion, imports rose 16.1% to €283 billion
  • The eurozone's energy deficit widened to €33 billion from €20.7 billion a year earlier

The deficit was almost twice as large as expected

The eurozone recorded a goods trade deficit of €10.3 billion ($11.4 billion) in September, whereas the market had expected a deficit of only €4.5 billion ($5 billion). A year earlier, the balance for the same month was positive — a surplus of €13.5 billion ($14.9 billion). Compared with August, when the deficit reached €16.6 billion ($18.4 billion), the gap narrowed somewhat. The data were published by the EU statistics agency Eurostat on Friday.

Imports are growing faster than exports

Eurozone exports rose 6% year on year to €272.7 billion ($301.6 billion), but imports jumped 16.1% to €283 billion ($313 billion). It was the faster growth of imports that determined the sign and size of the balance. The main factor behind the annual deterioration was the widening energy deficit: it grew to €33 billion ($36.5 billion) from €20.7 billion ($22.9 billion) a year earlier. The surplus in machinery and vehicles, meanwhile, narrowed to €3 billion ($3.3 billion) from €10 billion ($11.1 billion).

Over nine months, the surplus turned into a deficit

From January to September, the eurozone posted a deficit of €36.5 billion ($40.4 billion) against a surplus of €102.2 billion ($113 billion) in the same period last year. Exports over the nine months rose 2.4% to €2.26 trillion ($2.50 trillion), while imports grew 9.2% to €2.3 trillion ($2.54 trillion). Thus, the euro area's trade balance for most of the year swung from clearly positive to negative.

The picture across the whole EU: the deficit with China is growing, the surplus with the US is shrinking

Across the entire European Union, the goods trade deficit in September amounted to €16.8 billion ($18.6 billion), against a surplus of €11.4 billion ($12.6 billion) a year earlier and a deficit of €25.3 billion ($28 billion) in August. EU exports rose 4.7% to €240.1 billion ($265.6 billion), while imports grew 17.9% to €256.9 billion ($284.1 billion). Energy imports soared 51.3% to €51.5 billion ($57 billion), and the bloc's energy deficit widened to €37.6 billion ($41.6 billion) from €24.1 billion ($26.6 billion).

Trade with the US and China

EU exports to the US fell 10.6% in September to €47.7 billion ($52.8 billion), while imports from the US rose 14.7% to €36.8 billion ($40.7 billion). As a result, the bloc's surplus in trade with the US shrank to €10.9 billion ($12.1 billion) from €21.3 billion ($23.6 billion) a year earlier — that is, almost by half. The deficit in trade with China, by contrast, increased to €41.7 billion ($46.1 billion) from €35.2 billion ($38.9 billion). Over the first nine months, the EU as a whole recorded a deficit of €83.2 billion ($92.1 billion) against a surplus of €85.5 billion ($94.6 billion) a year earlier.