Thaindian News

Brussels, Dec 9 (IANS) The European Union’s (EU) trade in goods with India, which is the EU’s 9th most important trading partner, picked up in the first nine months of 2010 after a slump in 2009 due to the global recession, according to data released here Friday.

The EU’s trade in goods with India more than doubled in value between 2000 and 2008, EuAsiaNews reports. EU exports decreased from 31.6 billion euros in 2008 to 27.6 billion euros in 2009 and imports from India dropped from 29.5 billion euros to 25.3 billion euros, it said.

These figures were released here by the EU’s statistical office Eurostat on the occasion of the EU-India summit in Brussels Friday.

The EU surplus in trade with India increased from 0.8 billion euros in 2000 to 2.3 billion euros in 2009.

However, the first nine months of 2010 showed renewed growth in EU trade with India, with exports increasing from 19.7 billion euros in the first nine months of 2009 to 25.1 billion in the same period of 2010, and imports from 19.1 billion to 24.3 billion.

The EU trade surplus with India remained nearly stable at 0.7 billion in the first nine months of 2010.

In recent years, the share of India in EU trade has risen, reaching 2.6 percent of EU exports and 2.2 percent of EU imports in the first nine months of 2010.

Among the 27 EU countries, Germany (6.6 billion euros or 26 percent of EU exports) was the largest exporter to India in the first nine months of 2010, followed by Belgium (5.1 billion or 20 percent), Britain (3.2 billion or 13 percent), Italy and France (both 2.3 billion or 9 percent).

Britain (4.4 billion or 18 percent of EU imports) was the largest importer of Indian goods, followed by Germany (4.0 billion or 16 percent), Italy and the Netherlands (both 2.8 billion or 11 percent), Belgium and France (both 2.7 billion or 11 percent).

Machinery and vehicles and other manufactured goods represented almost 80 percent of EU exports to India in the first nine months of 2010, while other manufactured goods accounted for almost 50 percent of imports.

The main EU exports to India included unworked diamonds and aircraft, while the main imports included oil products and worked diamonds, Eurostat noted.