Trade deficit expands to € 3.1 bln as exports fall

Cyprus exports of goods in the first ten months of 2014 shrank by about EUR 100 mln to EUR 1.2 bln from the same period in 2013, with the EUR 4.3 bln in imports resulting in the trade deficit for January to October growing to EUR 3.1 bln.

The EU statistical service Eurostat reported that the first estimate for the euro area trade with the rest of the world in November 2014 recorded a EUR 20 bln surplus, up from a surplus of 16.5 bln in November 2013. The biggest rise in EU28 exports were registered with China (+11% in January-October 2014 compared with Jan-Oct 2013), South Korea (+10%) and the United States (+6%), and for EU28 imports with South Korea (+9%), China (+8%) and Turkey (+7%).

As regards the total trade of EU member states, the largest surplus was in Germany (EUR 183.6 bln), followed by the Netherlands (50.6 bln), Italy (33.6 bln), Ireland (29.2 bln) and the Czech Republic (14.1 bln). The United Kingdom registered the largest deficit of -EUR 114.5 bln, followed by France (-60.5 bln), Spain (-21.5 bln) and Greece (-17.4 bln).