EU-Japan: a trade balance that speaks German

On the occasion of the XXI EU-Japan Summit, which will be held tomorrow in Tokyo, Eurostat has published data updates on trade and investment between the two economic players. Over the last decade, the balance of trade in goods between the EU and Japan leans in favor of the Rising Sun, seventh trading partner by importance: if the share of European exports destined for Japan fell from 4,9% in 2002 to 3,3% in 2012, imports recorded an even more significant drop, going from 7,9% to 3,6%. This has however led to a decrease in the EU trade deficit from 30,3 billion in 2002 to 9,0 billion euros in 2012. In the first six months of 2013, European exports to Japan decreased slightly compared to the same period of 2012 (26,3 billion from 27,0 billion) , while imports fell even more strongly, falling from 33,8 billion to 28,2 billion.
Among the twenty-eight member countries, it is Germany (8,0 bn, equivalent to 31% of EU exports) to be the largest export market in Japan in the first six months of 2013, followed by France (3,4 billion, 13%), Italy (3,0 billion, 11 %) and the United Kingdom (2,6 billion, 10%). Germany is also the largest buyer (7,3 billion, 26 %), followed by the Netherlands (5,1 billion, 18%) and the United Kingdom (4,2 billion or 15%). During the first half of this year, however, negative results came from the Netherlands (-3,5 billion) and the United Kingdom (-1,6 billion), while the largest surpluses were recorded in Italy (+1,6 billion) and France (+1,0 billion).