On the occasion of the sixth EU-South Africa summit, which will be held on 18 July 2013 in Pretoria, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has released data on trade and investment between the two institutional partners. After the decline in flows of goods traded between the EU and South Africa observed during 2009, Community exports marked a strong recovery, reaching a peak of 26,6 billion euros in 2012, while imports grew more slowly to reach €20,5bn, albeit below the estimated €24,6bn in 2008. As a result, EU trade with South Africa recorded a surplus of €6,1bn in 2012, compared to €1,3 billion in 2010 and €4,4 billion in 2011.
If Germany turns out to be the largest exporter (8,8 billion, 33%) among EU countries followed by the United Kingdom (4,1 billion, 16%), the Netherlands (2,5 billion, 9%) and France (2,0 billion, 7%), the United Kingdom has the largest flow of imported goods (7,5 billion, 36%), followed by Germany (4.1 billion, 20%), the Netherlands (2,2 billion, 11%) and Belgium (1,9 billion, 9%). And in this context, the greatest positive balances were recorded in Germany (+4,7 billion) and France (+1,3 billion), while the heaviest deficit can be observed in the United Kingdom (-3,4 billion) .
