EU accession countries record trade surplus

EU statistics agency Eurostat has said the eight Central and East European countries set to join the European Union in May 2004 had a €0.2bn trade surplus with the EU in the first nine months of the year.

This compares with a €1.2bn deficit a year earlier.

The countries are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, and between 40 - 75% of their exports are sold in the EU.

The EU imported €83.6bn worth of goods from the eight countries in the period.

This raises the eight countries' share of EU imports to 11.5 % from 10.8% a year earlier, Eurostat said.

Also, the EU exported €83.4bn worth of goods to the eight countries, bringing the eight countries' share of EU exports to 11.6%, up from 10.9% a year ago.

Slovakia again outperformed the rest of the accession group, boosting its exports to the EU by 25% from the year-earlier level.

Latvia and Estonia increased exports to the EU by 10%.

Lithuania's exports to the EU fell 7% and imports rose at the same rate.

Poland's trade deficit narrowed to €3.4bn from €3.6bn, although it still had the largest deficit among the eight countries.

Its exports to the EU grew 5% to €23.1bn from €22.0bn, while its imports declined to €26.5bn from €26.6bn.