Eurozone trade deficit almost doubles in April

The euro zone’s trade deficit almost doubled in April from the previous month after an already record expansion in March, and industrial production increased over the same period on the month, official data showed on Wednesday.

The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said the 19 countries sharing the euro recorded a trade deficit, unadjusted for seasonal swings, of 32.4 billion euros in April compared with a 16.4 billion euro deficit in March. In April 2021 there was a surplus of 14.9 billion euros.

Adjusted for seasonal swings, the eurozone trade gap was 31.7 billion euros.

The unadjusted value of imports in April rocketed by 39.8 per cent year-on-year, Eurostat said, while the value of exports rose only 15.7 per cent.

The EU’s trade deficit with Russia – its main energy supplier – more than quadrupled to 62.6 billion euros in the first quarter from 14.7 billion in the same period of 2021.

The change in the value of EU energy imports was the most spectacular, with the deficit in energy trade almost tripling to 183.6 billion euros in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2021.

The trade gap with China, Europe’s biggest trading partner, almost doubled to 122 billion euros in the January-April period from 65.8 billion a year earlier.

The trade deficit with Norway, another large energy supplier, surged to 23.9 billion euros in the first quarter from 500 million euros in the same period of last year.

Industrial production in the 19 eurozone countries increased 0.4 per cent month-on-month, but saw a 2 per cent year-on-year decline.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.5 per cent monthly rise, and a 1.1 per cent annual drop.

Production of energy rose the most month-on-month by 5.4 per cent, followed by intermediate goods by 0.7 per cent, non-durable consumer goods by 0.4 per cent and durable consumer goods by 0.2 per cent against March, while production of capital goods fell by 0.2 per cent.

In year-on-year terms, capital goods plunged 9 per cent in April and intermediate goods were down 0.3 per cent, while production of energy rose by 1.5 per cent, non-durable consumer goods by 4.7 per cent and durable consumer goods by 5.7 per cent.