Surplus of €246 Billion Noted for Euro area International Trade in Goods


02/15/2016



Noting a rise of 5% compared with 2014, euro area exports rose to the rest of the world to €2 040.2 billion last year, revealed figures from Eurostat.
 
The euro area reached a surplus of €246 billion as imports reached a total of €1 794.2 billion in 2015, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. The excess of €184.3 billion that was achieved n 2014 was surpassed in 2015.
 
The exports of goods to the rest of the world in December 2015 was €167.5 billion noting an increase of 3% compared with December 2014 when the total reached €162.1 billion, the first estimate from Eurostat also revealed.
 
The euro area thereby noted a surplus of €24.3 billion in trade in goods with worldwide trade partners.
 
There was also a rise of 2% compared to the same month in 2014 in the intra euro area trade with €130.3 billion of business being conducted in December 2015 according to Eurostat.
 
With a a year on year surge of 7%, the estimate for the whole of the European Union (EU) for December 2015 was €156.0 billion. 
 
Noting a slender rise of 1% compared with December 2014, imports from the rest of the world stood at €135.5 billion. The value in 2014 was €134.4 billion.
 
Globally the surplus for the EU for December climbed up to a €20.5 billion.  
 
Compared to a euro area the intra trade across the 28 member states rose to €234.7 billion noting a higher rise of 3%.
 
Employees in Manufacturing Sector Rises in Germany
 
There was just under 5.4 million people employed in the manufacturing sector in the German economy according to official figures disclosed that at the end of December which came as positive news for the German economy.
 
Noting an increase of 1% in a year on year comparison, the figure represents a rise of 55,000 people being employed in manufacturing industries.
 
Earnings in this area of the economy grew at a significant rate of 3.8% in December compared to the same month in 2014,this amounted to a total of €21.7 billion.
 
Reaching a total of 618 million hours, the number of hours worked also increased in December by 2.7%.
 
The euro has weakened against the greenback after the latest GDP results for the euro area was announced, which revealed that growth on the euro area had remained stable for the fourth quarter last year at 0.3%.
 
Since the second quarter in 2014, this latest growth figure is the slowest amount of economic activity reported for the euro area.
 
The euro has also been reduced to purchasing £0.77 today, falling from £0.774 in the early hours against the UK pound.
 
The current trend from the GDP announcement is expected to result in the European Central Banks’ quantitative easing programme being less effective and alleviate some fears of the appreciation the euro.
 
(Sources:www.ec.europa.eu & www.fxempire.com)