The first estimate for the euro area trade balance with the rest of the world in May 2006 gave a 3.2 bn euro deficit against a 2.3 bn surplus in May 2005. The April 2006 balance was -1.9 bn euro, compared with +1.6 bn in April 2005. In May 2006 compared with April 2006, exports, seasonally adjusted, rose by 1.2% and imports by 1.4%.
The first estimate for May 2006 extra-EU25 trade was a 15.7 bn euro deficit, compared with -7.3 bn in May 2005. In April 20062, the balance was -14.5 bn euro, compared with -9.4 bn in April 2005. In May 2006 compared with April 2006, exports, seasonally adjusted, rose by 0.5% and imports by 1.8%.
These data are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

EU25 January-April 2006 detailed results
The energy deficit grew strongly (-94.8 bn euro in January-April 2006 compared with -63.2 bn in
January-April 2005), while the surpluses in the chemicals sector (+24.3 bn compared with +20.2 bn) and for machinery and vehicles (+30.0 bn compared with +27.8 bn) rose.

EU25 trade flows with its major partners grew. The most notable increases were for exports to China (+25% in January-April 2006 compared with January-April 2005), Russia, Turkey and Canada (+22% each), and for imports from Russia (+42%), Norway (+31%), China (+25%), South Korea (+23%), India (+22%) and Canada (+19%).

The EU25 trade surplus with the USA increased (+28.5 bn euro in January-April 2006 compared with +24.3 bn in January-April 2005), but decreased with Switzerland (+4.5 bn compared with +5.9 bn). The EU25 trade deficit grew strongly with China (-37.9 bn compared with -30.2 bn), Russia (-26.0 bn compared with -16.1 bn) and Norway (-15.2 bn compared with -10.3 bn), and slightly with Japan (-10.3 bn compared with -9.8 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+50.0 bn euro in January-April 2006), followed by the Netherlands (+12.7 bn), Ireland (+10.1 bn) and Sweden (+6.4 bn). The United Kingdom (-29.8 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-27.8 bn), France (-11.4 bn), Italy (-11.0 bn) and Greece (-10.9 bn).