RSS
Romania has the largest deficit in the EU in terms of trade in chemicals
Over the last decade, the EU trade surplus in chemicals with non-EU countries increased from €88 billion in 2010 to €178 billion in 2020. This is equivalent to an average annual growth of 7%.
Last year, chemicals worth almost €233 billion were imported to the EU, representing a €79 billion increase since 2010. Except for 2013 and 2020, chemical imports increased every year over the 10-year period. The average annual growth over the whole period was 4%.
EU chemical exports were significantly higher than imports, steadily increasing from €242 billion in 2010 to €411 billion in 2020. The average annual growth of exports over this period was 5%.
Among the EU countries, Germany was the largest extra-EU exporter of chemicals in 2020 (€105 billion). Germany was followed by Ireland (€55 billion exports), Belgium (€51 billion exports) and France (€45 billion exports). At the opposite pole is Romania, the country with the largest deficit, over 1.3 billion euros, according to data published Monday by Eurostat.
In 2020, the EU exported €51 billion and €50 billion worth of chemicals to Switzerland and the United States, respectively, making them the leading extra-EU export destinations of EU chemicals.
Next on the list of top export destinations were the United Kingdom with €33 billion worth of chemicals and China with €21 billion.
The EU had a trade surplus with eight of the ten largest trade partners, with the United States (€61 billion), Russia (€13 billion) and the United Kingdom (€11 billion) on the lead.