The first estimates published by Eurostat concerning the trade balance of the Euro Area with the rest of the world recorded last December a surplus of 11,7 billion euros, against 8 billion in the same period of the previous year. If we look at November, the surplus was 13 billion compared to 4,9 billion in November 2011. If, however, we take into consideration the EU market as a whole, a deficit of 0,7 billion was recorded with the rest of the world, up from -0,2 billion in the same period of 2011. The trade balance in November 2012 recorded losses of 1,9 billion, against -9,3 billion the previous year. Overall, therefore, a marked improvement can be noted despite the difficult economic situation: during 2012 the Euro Area recorded a trade surplus of 81,8 billion, against -15,7 billion in 2011, while the losses of the EU market amounted to 104,6 billion, compared to -162,7, XNUMX billion of the previous year.
In this scenario, the EU liabilities due to the costs of energy resources have a decisive influence, increased to 388,6 billion in the first eleven months of 2012 by virtue of energy policies that are still inefficient from the Community point of view, and the surplus recorded from the exchange of manufactured goods, equal to 330,8 billion. In particular, this affected exports to South Korea (+17%), Russia (+15%), Japan (+15%), USA (+13%) and Brazil (+11%), while imports given an increase in flows from Switzerland (+14%), Norway (+9%) and the USA (+8%).
From the point of view of individual member countries, the largest surpluses were recorded in Germany (+174,6 billion), the Netherlands (+46 billion), Ireland (+39,9 billion) and the Czech Republic (+12,1 billion), while, as far as deficits are concerned, the United Kingdom (-152,9 billion), France (-75,2 billion), Spain (-30 billion) and Greece (-19 billion) lead the way.
