LONDON (ICIS)--Chemicals exports from EU countries to the rest of the world fell in January, in line with overall trade in goods which took a hit from renewed measures to slow down the spread of the pandemic, said Eurostat on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Imports of chemicals into the EU took a hit of 16.5%, although the overall volumes of imports were around half of those in exports. <\/p>\n
Eurostat also confirmed how the UKs withdrawal from the EUs Single Market on 1 January affected trade in goods between the two areas, in line with figures published by the UKs national statistics body earlier this week. <\/p>\n
The EU has traditionally been a net exporter of chemicals, with chemicals output in several countries within the bloc notably Germany being key in the global chemicals trade. <\/p>\n
Several EU countries, including Germany or France, were in January under lockdown measures as the pandemic was spreading again; those lockdown measures remain in place, while as of this week Italy has also gone into stricter measures. <\/p>\n
Chemicals output also took a hit in January across the 27-country, although overall industrial output managed to keep in the positive, said Eurostat earlier in March. <\/p>\n
The fall in chemicals exports was the smallest among chemicals-intensive manufacturing sectors like machinery and vehicles production, which fell more than 12%. <\/p>\n
The trade surplus for the EU's chemicals industry widened in January, to 17.1bn, as imports fell by a larger percentage than exports. <\/p>\n
BREXIT DEAL IMPACTEurostat also confirmed the sharp fall in UK-EU trade in goods as the Brexit trade deal kicked off on 1 January, mirroring statistics published by the UKs Office for National Statistics (ONS). <\/p>\n
The sharp falls, however, should be taking with a pinch of salt, according to analysts, as one month would not be representative, especially as previous stocking and global logistics woes are taken into consideration. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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EU chemicals exports, imports fall in January on renewed lockdowns, Brexit impact - ICIS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LONDON (ICIS)--Chemicals exports from EU countries to the rest of the world fell in January, in line with overall trade in goods which took a hit from renewed measures to slow down the spread of the pandemic, said Eurostat on Thursday. Imports of chemicals into the EU took a hit of 16.5%, although the overall volumes of imports were around half of those in exports. Eurostat also confirmed how the UKs withdrawal from the EUs Single Market on 1 January affected trade in goods between the two areas, in line with figures published by the UKs national statistics body earlier this week. Continue reading