EU trade in goods with South Korea in surplus for second consecutive year

The European Union (EU) trade balance with South Korea, which had constantly been in deficit from 2004 to 2012, has turned into a surplus for the last two years, Eurostat, or the statistical office of the EU, said Friday.

The value of the EU exports of goods to South Korea has more than doubled over the period 2004-2014, from 17.9 billion euros (about 20.27 billion U.S. dollars) in 2004 to a peak of 43.2 billion euros in 2014, according to figures issued on the occasion of the EU-South Korea summit, which will take place on Sept. 15 in Seoul.

Meanwhile, imports show a more varied trend over this 10-year time period. In 2014, they amounted to 39.0 billion euros, up by 9 percent compared with 2013 but still below the peak reached in 2007.

As a result, EU trade surplus with South Korea stood at 4.1 billion euros in both 2013 and 2014.

The surplus is mainly driven by primary goods and chemicals, while the EU recorded a deficit for machinery and vehicles, according to Eurostat.

Among the EU Member States, Germany was the largest EU trading partner with South Korea for both exports and imports.

Last year, Germany exported 15.7 billion euros of goods to South Korea and imported 6.8 billion euros of goods from South Korea.

Accounting for around 2.5 percent of total extra-EU trade in goods, South Korea is the eighth most important EU trading partner, just behind Japan and ahead of India, said the Eurostat.