China is EU’s second trading partner. The imports from China are double than EU’s exports

In the past ten years, the value of EU imports of goods from China has almost continuously increased, reaching, last year to a 2:1 import-exports parity.

After the United States, China is the second most important EU trading partner, with 15% of total extra-EU trade in goods in 2016 (compared with 10% in 2006).

“Over this 10-year time period, the share of China in extra-EU imports increased from 14% in 2006 to 20% in 2016, and its share in exports almost doubled (6% in 2006 vs. 10% in 2016),” according to Eurostat.

Both exports and imports were dominated by machinery and vehicles, and except Germany, Finland and Ireland, the EU registered a deficit with China for every Member State.

The trade in goods between the European Union and China increased constantly, except for the drop recorded in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis. Thus, the value of EU imports of goods from China reached 345 bn in 2016. “Exports, which did not decline in 2009, have almost tripled between 2006 and 2016 to hit 170 bn last year. The EU trade deficit with China, which persisted over the whole period, reached its peak in 2015 (-€180 bn) before decreasing slightly in 2016 (down to -€175 bn),” Eurostat reports.

Although both the U.S. and China remained the main trading partners, the trends observed over the past years are very different. Thus, after recording a significant and almost continuous fall until 2011, the share of the United States in EU total trade in goods has begun to increase again to reach 17.7% in 2016. Instead, the share of China has almost tripled since 2000, rising from 5.5% to 14.9% in 2016.

EU surplus for services

Regarding EU’s main partners in services, China was, in 2016, the third most important trading partner, after the United States and Switzerland, after it accounted for slightly over 4% of total extra-EU trade in services.

While imports of services increased more moderately, from slightly more than €17 bn in 2010 to €27 bn in 2016, EU’s exports to China almost doubled between 2010 and 2016, from less than €20 bn to €38 bn. Thus, over this time period, the EU surplus in trade in services with China grew by €9 bn, from €2 bn in 2010 to €11 bn last year.

“Although fluctuating from one year to the next, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) net flows between the EU and China have been continuously positive in recent years. However, in 2015 EU investment in China decreased to €6 bn (compared with €9 bn in 2014 and €21 bn in 2013), while Chinese investment flows into the EU stood at €6.3 bn in 2015. This meant that last year, for the first time, China became a net direct investor in the EU. However, the total FDI positions of the EU in China, which reached €168 bn at the end of 2015, remained significantly higher than those of China in the EU (€35 bn),” Eurostat also notes.

Most of the high-tech products imported in the EU are made in China

Within the European Union, more than a third of high-tech products are imported from China, while the USA is the main export destination for such products manufactured within the intra-community.

According to Eurostat, high-tech products, from aerospatial equipment, electronics, telecom, pharmaceutical products and scientific tools, represented around 18% of the commercial exchanges between the EU and the rest of the world.

In 2015, China delivered to the EU 34% of the high-tech products that made it to the 28 member states. China is followed by the USA, with a 26% share, and Switzerland, with a 6% share. The ranking is completed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada.

„Regarding EU exports the partners are the same, but in a different order: the United States (26% of total EU exports of these products to outside the EU), China (10%) and Switzerland (6%),” the Eurostat report shows.

The ranking of the countries from which EU products have been sent for export outside the community is completed by the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Turkey, Russia, Singapore, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.