The favorable evolution of EU sales on the US market

In Q4-2018 US import of goods from the EU reached a new high point, exceeding - for the first time - 110 billion euros.

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Intermediate goods Industrial equipment Conjuncture Consumption pattern United States of America Global economic trends

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In the fourth quarter of 2018, euro-denominated values of US imports from the EU area1 reached for the first time 110 billion euros; anyways, when evaluating these results, it is important to take into account the slight depreciation of the single currency against the dollar (about 3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2017).

This is a record of EU sales for many industries

Consumer goods

As regards consumer goods, the EU has recorded excellent sales performances in the following sectors:

  • Healthcare Products and Medical Equipment, which exceeded € 20 billion in Q4-2018 (€20.7 billion), with a 2-digit Year-over-Year growth - for the third time in a row - compared to 2017;
  • Packaged Food and Beverage, 5.3 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2018 (+7.3% compared to the same quarter in 2017);
  • Fashion and other Personal Products, 8.1 billion euros in the last quarter, equal to a Y-o-Y increase which exceeds 6 percentage points (+7% on an annual basis);
  • Finished Products for the Home, 1.8 billion euros in the last quarter, equal to an Y-o-Y increase of about 6 percentage points (+5.6% on an annual basis).

It is also worth mentioning that US imports from the EU of Consumer packaged goods (other than food) grew by 6.2% in 2018.

Investment goods

With regard to investment goods, the maximum values of EU sales must be highlighted:

  • Machinery, exceeding 2.8 billion euros in the 4th quarter 2018 (+12.6% Year-over-Year, with a cumulative annual growth equal to 8.8%);
  • Tools and Equipment for the industry, close to 4 billion euros, with a 6.2% increase compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017 (+4.5% on an annual basis).

It is also worth mentioning that US imports of Industrial Plants from the EU grew by 6.2% in euro on an annual basis, while imports of Tools and equipment for ICT and services increased by +2.7%.

Intermediate goods

Regarding intermediate goods, US imports from the EU reached 6.3 billion euros for Fine Chemicals and Specialties, with an annual increase of over 4 billion.
New maximum on an annual basis also for Unpacked Food (exceeding 3.2 billion euros), Metal intermediate goods (9.9 billion euros, an increase of 6% compared to 2017) and Building Materials and Products (€ 3.8 billion, a 3.5% increase compared to 2017).
Finally, significant Y-o-Y increases also for Fabrics and Leather (+8.3% in euro, which follows the +8.4% increase in the previous quarter), Pulp & Paper and Forest Products (also up by more than 8 percentage points in euro) and Ceramics Glass and Refractories (+5.7%).

1) See the datamart Conjuncture USA, available in the Analytics tool of ExportPlanning's Market Research.