Seasonally adjusted production in the EU construction sector increased by 1.2pc in November 2020, according to Eurostat. Compared with October, civil engineering rose by 3pc and building construction by 0.7pc in the EU with decreases in Romania at 4.9pc, Spain at 1.4pc and Belgium at 0.9pc while Slovenia and Hungry saw increases of 12.2pc and 12pc, respectively. Compared to November 2019, the EU’s building construction decreased by 1.2pc and civil engineering fell by 0.2pc in November 2020.
EU exports of goods declined by 1.5pc to €176.6bn ($213.1bn) in November 2020 compared to the same month a year ago. During the same period, imports fell by 6.2pc to €151.3bn. As a result, the EU achieved a €25.3 bn surplus in trade in goods, higher by 40pc against €18bn in November 2019. Trade within the EU, rose by 0.6pc to o €266.2bn in November 2020 compared to the same month in 2019.
In January-November 2020, the EU’s exports fell by 10.3pc to €1.8tn against the same 11 months of 2019 while imports slipped by 12.3pc to €1.6tn. Intra-EU trade declined by 8.4pc to €2.6tn in the eleven-month period against the same period a year ago. For the first eleven months, EU exports of machinery and vehicles dropped by 14.1pc and imports of the category fell by 9.5pc. The top three export trading countries were the US, UK, and China.