EU chemicals exports, imports fall in January on renewed lockdowns, Brexit impact
Jonathan Lopez
18-Mar-2021
LONDON (ICIS)–Chemicals exports from EU countries to the rest of the world fell in January, in line with overall trade in goods which took a hit from renewed measures to slow down the spread of the pandemic, said Eurostat on Thursday.
Imports of chemicals into the EU took a hit of 16.5%, although the overall volumes of imports were around half of those in exports.
Eurostat also confirmed how the UK’s withdrawal from the EU’s Single Market on 1 January affected trade in goods between the two areas, in line with figures published by the UK’s national statistics body earlier this week.
The EU has traditionally been a net exporter of chemicals, with chemicals output in several countries within the bloc – notably Germany – being key in the global chemicals trade.
Several EU countries, including Germany or France, were in January under lockdown measures as the pandemic was spreading again; those lockdown measures remain in place, while as of this week Italy has also gone into stricter measures.
Chemicals output also took a hit in January across the 27-country, although overall industrial output managed to keep in the positive, said Eurostat earlier in March.
The fall in chemicals exports was the smallest among chemicals-intensive manufacturing sectors like machinery and vehicles production, which fell more than 12%.
The trade surplus for the EU’s chemicals industry widened in January, to €17.1bn, as imports fell by a larger percentage than exports.
EU international trade in goods (in €/bn) | Exports Jan 2021 | Exports Jan 2020 | Change | Imports Jan 2021 | Imports Jan 2020 | Change |
Chemicals | 35.4 | 34.4 | -2.8% | 20.6 | 17.2 | -16.5% |
Machinery and vehicles | 63.5 | 55.6 | -12.4% | 54.2 | 47.8 | -11.8% |
Other manufactured goods | 37.4 | 32.9 | -12.0% | 42.3 | 36.0 | -14.9% |
Other | 3.6 | 3.3 | -8.3% | 3.0 | 2.6 | -13.3% |
Total manufactured goods | 136.3 | 122.8 | -9.9% | 117.1 | 101.0 | -13.7% |
Total EU (includes primary goods) | 166.2 | 148.3 | -10.8% | 168.4 | 139.9 | -16.9% |
BREXIT DEAL
IMPACT
Eurostat also confirmed
the sharp fall in UK-EU trade in goods as the
Brexit trade deal kicked off on 1 January,
mirroring statistics
published by the UK’s Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
The sharp falls, however, should be taking with a pinch of salt, according to analysts, as one month would not be representative, especially as previous stocking and global logistics woes are taken into consideration.
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