According to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the first estimate from for the euro area1 (EA15) trade balance with the rest of the world in April 2008 gave a 2.3 bn euro surplus, compared with +2.0 bn in April 2007. The March 20082 balance was -1.5 bn, compared with +7.5 bn in March 2007. In April 2008 compared with March 2008, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 6.2% and imports by 3.6%.

The first estimate for the April 2008 extra-EU271 trade balance was a deficit of 15.4 bn euro, compared with -12.9 bn in April 2007. In March 20082, the balance was -20.8 bn, compared with -10.5 bn in March 2007. In April 2008 compared with March 2008, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 5.1% and imports by 1.4%.

EU27 January-March 2008 detailed results

• The EU27 energy deficit increased (-88.0 bn euro in January-March 2008 compared with -61.1 bn in January-March 2007).
• The surplus rose for machinery and vehicles (+34.0 bn compared with +24.0 bn).
• EU27 trade with most of its major partners grew, with the exception of exports to Japan (-5% in January-March 2008 compared with January-March 2007) and the USA (-4%), and imports from Japan (-2%) and the USA (0%). The largest increases were recorded for exports to Russia (+25%) and Brazil (+20%), and for imports from Russia (+28%) and Norway (+22%).
• The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+15.8 bn in January-March 2008 compared with +18.4 bn in January-March 2007) and Switzerland (+3.2 bn compared with +3.7 bn).
• The EU27 trade deficit grew with Russia (-18.8 bn compared with -14.2 bn) and Norway (-12.1 bn compared with -8.6. bn)However, the EU27 trade deficit decreased with China (-38.4 bn compared with -39.7 bn) and remained stable with Japan (-8.8 bn compared with -8.7 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States

• The largest surplus was observed in Germany (+50.4 bn euro in January-March 2008), followed by the Netherlands (+10.9 bn).
• The United Kingdom (-34.0 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-26.7 bn), France (-14.5 bn) and Greece (-9.0 bn).