(CHEManager International 5/2015)     EU - US Chemicals Trade     Extra-EU chemicals trade in 2013 totaled € 229.3 billion with exports reaching € 139 billion, thus delivering an EU chemicals trade surplus of nearly € 49 billion. The top 10 EU chemical trade partners accounted for 70% of exports and imports (c. f. the article on page 10). The US is by far the EU's biggest trading partner in chemicals. It buys € 26 billion of EU exports, nearly 20% of the EU chemicals total every year, whilst providing € 20 billion of EU imports. The drop in exports since 2012 is mostly due to petrochemicals that account for 46% of EU chemicals exports and have been negatively affected by the US shale gas boom, hence lowering the total export volume.

EU - China Chemicals Trade     Within a decade, China has become world leader in chemical output by a wide margin, with annual sales of € 1,047 billion, a 33.2% share of the global total and far ahead of the EU's € 527 billion sales and 16.7% global market share. Today China is the EU's second-biggest chemicals trading partner, accounting for 8.7% of EU exports. While Chinese chemical companies are gradually increasing their focus on specialty chemicals, the country will remain a major importer of commodity chemicals for some time to come. Chinese expansion does not necessarily imply Europe loses out. Rather, there are wins for both, and China offers many opportunities.

EU - India Chemicals Trade     India is the world's second-largest emerging market, and the EU is India's biggest source of foreign direct investment. EU-India trade in goods and services accounted for nearly € 73 billion in 2013, of which € 7.2 billion was in the chemicals sector. EU chemicals trade with India tripled in value during the last decade. Exports in 2013 reached € 3.5 billion, of which petrochemicals, specialties and polymers accounted for almost one third each. Basic inorganics and consumer chemicals share the remaining 11% almost equally. But, still, India buys only 3.1% of EU chemical exports, which is modest compared to potential trade between the two economies.



EU - GCC Chemicals Trade     In 2013, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was the fifth largest trade partner of the European chemical industry, with a trade flow of € 11 billion. Thanks to sustained economic growth, since January 2014 the GCC countries no longer qualify under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) that allows preferential tariffs for the least developed countries. They are subject to full import duties when exporting chemicals to the EU. This matters because thanks to their huge output of low-cost fossil fuels, GCC members are massive exporters of energy-intensive petrochemicals and polymers. Thus, the EU exports primarily specialties and consumer chemicals into the GCC.