Euro area records trade surplus of EUR 29.2 billion in June

Euro area’s exports of goods declined in June 2016 in annual terms, according to the first estimate published by Eurostat. Exports of the currency bloc dropped 2 percent year-on-year to EUR 178.8 billion from June 2015’s EUR 182.8 billion.

Meanwhile, imports fell 5 percent on a year-on-year basis to EUR 148.5 billion, as compared with June  2015’s EUR 157.4 billion. Trade surplus of the euro area widened in June. It came in at EUR 29.2 billion, as compared with the surplus of EUR 25.5 billion in the same month of last year.

Intra-euro area trade dropped in June by 1 percent year-on-year to EUR 150.2 billion. In the January to June period, the currency bloc’s exports dropped 1 percent year-on-year to EUR 1,005.5 billion. Meanwhile, imports declined 3 percent to EUR 871 billion.

For the first half of 2016, the euro area registered a trade surplus of EUR 134.5 billion, wider than the trade surplus of EUR 111.4 billion recorded in the first half of 2015. Intra-euro area trade continued to be almost stable in the first half of the year at EUR 855.9 billion, stated Eurostat.