EU international trade in services increased in 2013, with EU exports of services to the rest of the world rising by five per cent, from €676 billion in 2012 to €710bn in 2013, and EU imports by 3 per cent, from €515bn to €532bn.

As a result, the EU surplus in trade in services increased in 2013 to €178bn, compared with +€161bn in 2012, Eurostat reported yesterday.

The main components of EU international trade in services were “other business services” (R&D, business, professional & technical services) which accounted in 2013 for 25 per cent of EU total exports and 29 per cent of imports, transport services (20 per cent and 23 per cent), travel services (15 per cent and 17 per cent), telecommunications, computer and information services (11 per cent and nine per cent) and financial services (10 per cent and six per cent).

In 2013, the services that contributed the most to the EU surplus were financial services (+€43.5bn), ICT services (+€33.8bn) and other business services (+€26.0bn), while the only significant deficit was recorded for charges for the use of intellectual property (-€8.5bn).

The largest surplus was observed in trade with the EFTA countries (+€57bn), ahead of the US (+€21bn), Russia (+€16bn) and Japan (+€10bn).