18.08.202509:13:05UTC+00Euro Area Trade Surplus Narrows More than Expected

In June 2025, the Eurozone witnessed a contraction in its trade surplus, which dwindled to €7 billion compared to €20.7 billion the previous year. This figure also fell short of market forecasts of €13 billion. The reduction was primarily due to a 6.8% increase in imports while exports saw only a marginal rise of 0.4%. Within the larger EU framework, the trade surplus similarly decreased to €8 billion from €20.3 billion. EU imports surged by 6.4% to reach €205.7 billion, driven by increased purchases of machinery and vehicles (up 9.2%), chemicals (up 15.7%), food and drink (up 17.1%), and raw materials (up 11.2%). Significant growth in imports from major partners was observed, including the US (up 16.4%), China (up 16.7%), and Switzerland (up 10.2%). Despite this, exports remained steady at €213.7 billion, with higher sales in machinery and vehicles (up 1.2%) and food and drink (up 4.1%) being counterbalanced by declines in exports of chemicals (down 1.4%), energy (down 17.2%), and raw materials (down 5.3%). Export totals declined to the US (down 10.3%) and China (down 12.7%) but experienced an increase to the UK (up 7.4%) and Switzerland (up 13.5%).