Advertisement
UK markets open in 5 hours 50 minutes
  • NIKKEI 225

    39,462.61
    -277.83 (-0.70%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,621.05
    -116.07 (-0.69%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.55
    -0.17 (-0.21%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,163.60
    -0.70 (-0.03%)
     
  • DOW

    38,790.43
    +75.66 (+0.20%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,620.16
    -1,494.80 (-2.81%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,103.45
    +130.27 (+0.82%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,218.89
    -3.20 (-0.08%)
     

UK accounts for a fifth of EU service exports

China was the origin of 20pc of goods imported by the EU - Toby Melville 
China was the origin of 20pc of goods imported by the EU - Toby Melville

The UK is the single biggest exporter of services in EU, accounting for more than a fifth of the services sold by the trading bloc, statistics have revealed.

Services worth €183bn (£161bn) were exported by the UK in 2016, equivalent to 22.3pc of the services exported by the EU to non-member countries, according to the EU's statistical body Eurostat.  The UK is also the third biggest importer of services.

In 2016, seven EU member states recorded their largest trade surplus for goods with the United Kingdom, making it a highly significant trading partner within the single market.

ADVERTISEMENT

Eleven member states including Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland list the UK as one of their top four trading partners for exporting goods.

Trade within the EU accounted for less than half of the UK’s trade in goods last year, down from just under 60pc in 2002 to 49.3pc in 2016, making it the country with the smallest proportion of of its trade being made among other EU member states and the only nation, save Malta, to do less than 50pc of its trade within the EU.

Among EU members, the UK had by far the biggest trading deficit in goods (meaning the UK imports far more than it exports). Its deficit of  €204bn in 2016, was more than three times as high as the next largest deficit, recorded in France €65bn. That compares with a €257bn surplus of goods exported by Germany.

By contrast, since 2002, many Eastern European single market countries have moved from having a trade deficit to trade surplus including the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Germany's goods surplus grew by €124bn in the same 14-year period. The Netherlands saw its surplus rise by €33bn.

Overall, trade within the single market has become less important for member states in recent years. In 2002, internal trade was worth twice that of trade with non-EU nations. Total trade - a sum of imports and exports - is now 1.8 times higher internally, than externally. 

According to the Eurostat report, this "decreasing ratio" suggest the EU has become "more integrated within the global economy". 

China, the US and Switzerland were the three most import export destinations for EU goods last year. China was also the source of more than a fifth of goods imported by the EU.