EU international trade jumps in April

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – The EU's exports and imports both increased rapidly on a yearly basis in April, by 43.4% and 32.8% respectively, official figures showed on Tuesday.

The 27-member bloc's exports totaled €179 billion ($218.4 billion), while imports amounted to €166 billion, the statistical authority Eurostat said.

The average euro/US dollar exchange rate was 1.22 in the month.

The union's trade balance posted a surplus of €13 billion.

Intra-EU trade also soared by 58.9% to stand at €274.9 billion in the month compared to April 2020.

During the first four months of this year, the EU's exports increased by 7.8% to reach €688.1 billion, while imports up by 6.3% to reach €626.6 billion.

China was the bloc's main trade partner in the January-April period, with €73.9 billion imports from the union and €139.4 billion in exports.

Country-to-country trade balances indicated that the EU had incurred the largest deficit with China – €65.6 billion – and the highest surplus with the US – €54.1 billion – over the same period.

Turkey was the union's sixth-largest trade partner during the four-month period, with €26.3 billion imports from the union and €24.7 billion in exports.

On the eurozone side, extra-EA exports jumped by 43.2% to €193.8 billion in April. The trade surplus was €10.9 billion.

The eurozone/euro area or the EA19 represents the member states that use the euro as their single currency, while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.