After running a deficit for six consecutive quarters, the Union's trade balance in the second quarter of 2023 European is back in profit having scored a modest surplus of one billion euros, with exports having marked a decrease of -2.0% and imports of -3.5%. It has Eurostat announced today explaining that this happened to following the fall in energy prices and stressing that This is a clear improvement on the 155 billion deficit of euros charged in the third quarter of 2022 which had been the highest since 2019.

With regard to extra-EU trade via Sea, in the entire first half of 2023 this flow to and from ports of the European Union has been pairs to 814,5 million tons, with a bending of -6,6% on the first half last year, of which 565.2 million tonnes in import (- 7.3%) and 249,2 million tons in export (-5,1%).

Among the leading EU nations by trade volume non-European trade trades handled by sea, in the first half of this year the Netherlands has totaled 145.3 million tons (- 9.3%), of which 108,0 million tons in import (- 7.5%) and 37.3 million tons in export (- 14.0%), Spain 103,5 million tons (- 14.7%), of which 69,7 million tons in import (- 18.6%) and 33,8 million of tons in export (-5.4%), and Italy, which from over a decade has seen the overall volume of this trade shrink both at national level and with respect to the overall EU figure, has totaled 97,5 million tons (- 8.0%), of which 74,9 million of tons in import (- 8.4%) and 22,6 million tons in exports (-6.7%).

In the second quarter of 2023 alone, trade non-EU sea by the European Union amounted to 404.9 million of tons, with a decrease of -9,5% on the same period of the last year, of which 281.9 million tonnes imported (- 9.8%) and 122.9 million tons in export (- 8.9%). The Main volumes of these goods were handled from ports Dutch with a total of 70,1 million tons (- 16.0%), of which 52,3 million tons in import (- 13.0%) and 17,8 million tons in export (- 23.9%), from the ports of the Spain with 52,0 million tons (- 17.0%), of which 35,3 million of tons in import (- 19.5%) and 16,7 million tons in export (-11.1%), and from Italian ports with 48,7 million tons (- 12.3%), of which 37,4 million tons in import (- 12.0%) and 11.3 million tons in export (-13,5%).