EU imports high-tech products worth euro 482 bn from extra-EU nations

In 2022, the EU imported Euro 482 billion worth of high-tech products from extra-EU countries (+22 per cent compared with 2021), according to an estimate published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Exports to these countries reached Euro 446 billion (+16 per cent compared with 2021).

In 2022, over half of the EU's high-tech imports from non-EU countries came from China (38 per cent; Euro 183 billion) and the United States (19 per cent; Euro91 billion), with other top partners being Switzerland (six per cent; Euro 30 billion), Taiwan (five per cent; Euro 23 billion) and the United Kingdom and Vietnam (each four per cent; EUR20 and EUR18 billion, respectively).

The most significant category of high-tech products imported from non-EU countries was electronics-telecommunications (Euro 202 billion).

For three of the top six high-tech import partners, the largest imported category was electronics-telecommunications: Vietnam (74 per cent of high-tech imports from Vietnam; Euro 13 billion), Taiwan (69 per cent; Euro 16 billion) and China (55 per cent; Euro 101 billion).

For Switzerland, the largest category was pharmacy (68 per cent of high-tech imports from Switzerland; Euro 20 billion). For the United States (35 per cent; Euro 32 billion) and the United Kingdom (28 per cent; Euro 6 billion), it was aerospace.

For high-tech exports to non-EU countries, the United States was the top trading partner in 2022 (26 per cent; Euro 118 billion), with China second (12 per cent; Euro 53 billion). These countries were followed by the United Kingdom (9%; EUR42 billion), Switzerland (six per cent; Euro 28 billion), Japan (four per cent; Euro19 billion) and Turkiye (three per cent; Euro 12 billion).

The most significant category of high-tech products exported to non-EU countries was pharmacy (Euro 145 billion).

Pharmacy was the largest exported category for three of the top six high-tech export partners: Japan (56 per cent of high-tech exports to Japan; Euro 11 billion), Switzerland (50 per cent; Euro 14 billion) and the United States (49 per cent; Euro 57 billion).

The largest category for China (38 per cent of high-tech exports to China; Euro 20 billion) and the United Kingdom (24 per cent; Euro 10 billion) was electronics-telecommunication. For Turkiye, it was aerospace (38 per cent; Euro 5 billion).