EU records 9-bln-euro trade deficit with Latin American, Caribbean countries in 2009
20:51, 17 May 2010
BRUSSELS. May 17. KAZINFORM The European Union saw a trade deficit of 9 billion euros (11 billion U.S. dollars) with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries in 2009, the European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat said on Monday; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The EU's balance of trade with LAC countries turned from a 5-billion-euro (6 billion dollars) surplus in 2000 to a 9-billion-euro (11 billion dollars) deficit in 2009, according to the data released on the occasion of the EU-LAC summit to be held on Tuesday in Madrid.
The change is mainly contributed to an increase in primary goods in the 27-member EU, while the surplus in manufactured goods remained stable, according to Eurostat.
Almost half of the EU's exports to the LAC countries in 2009 were machinery and vehicles, while the main imports were primary goods, such as soya beans and their residues, crude oil, coffee and so on; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version