EU trade deficit with China down in H1

The first six month of 2012 saw some decrease of EU trade deficit with China due to continued growth in export, said a report issued by Eurostat Tuesday.

According to the report, EU exports to China rose from 66 billion euro (86.2 billion dollar) in the first six months of 2011 to 73 billion euro (95.3 billion dollar) in the first six months of 2012, while imports stabilised at just over 140 billion euro (182.8 billion dollar). As a result, the trade deficit decreased from 75 billion euro (97.9 billion dollar) to 67 billion euro (87.5 billion dollar).

This follows continued drop in EU trade deficit with China. Eurostat's report shows that the deficit reached its peak in 2008 of 170 billion euro (222 billion dollar), then gradually fell to 156 billion euro (203.7 billion dollar) in 2011.

The report also gives evidence of continued increase in trade volume between China and EU over the past decade. According to the report, EU's export surge from 26 billion euro (33.9 billion dollar) in 2000 to 136 billion (177.6 billion dollar) in 2011, while import shot from 75 billion euro (97.9 billion dollar) to 293 billion (382.6 billion dollar) at the same time.

China was the EU27's No.2 trading partner next to the United States, accounting for 9 percent of EU27 exports and 16 percent of EU27 imports in the first half of 2012, the report says.