At the same time the total worth of imports stood at €2.271 billion, of which €143 million from the US, €46 million from Switzerland, €63 million from China, €6 million from Japan, €340 million from Russia, €7 from Canada and €7 from Hong Kong.

That constitutes a positive trade balance of €1.359 billion in total, overly positive with all major extra EU trading partners and negative only towards China by - €32 million.

According to Eurostat, the international trade in services of the European Union (EU) has increased steadily and significantly over the last six years. EU exports of services to the rest of the world rose by 42%, from €569.5 billion in 2010 to €811.2 bn in 2015, while imports grew slightly more rapidly (+43%) from €461.6 bn to €660.5 bn. As a consequence, the EU trade surplus in services, which had steadily increased between 2010 and 2013, has decreased for the second consecutive year in 2015 to €150.7 bn.

This growth in EU’s international trade in services over the period 2010-2015 is around twice as high as the growth in the EU`s international trade in goods over this same time period.

In 2015, the main partners for EU exports of services remained the United States (€212.1 billion, or 26% of extra EU exports) and Switzerland (€116.3 bn, 14%), well ahead of China (€36.0 bn, 4%), Japan (€27.9 bn, 3%) and Russia (€24.3 bn, 3%). The main partner for EU imports of services also continued to be the United States (€202.8 bn, 31% of extra-EU imports), followed by Switzerland (€68.0 bn, 10%), China (€25.7 bn, 4%), Japan (€15.6 bn, 2%) and India (€13.7 bn, 2%). In 2015, the EU recorded surpluses in trade in services with all its main partners, except Hong Kong (-€1.0 bn). The largest surplus was observed by far with Switzerland (€48.3 billion), followed by Russia (€12.6 bn), Japan (€12.3 bn), China (€10.3 bn) and the United States (€9.3 bn).

Source: Famagusta Gazette