2023-10-16 12:27:59
The decline in both imports and exports continued in Belgium during the months of June to August, according to the latest data on the subject from the National Bank of Belgium published on Monday. The passenger car sector, particularly electric and Chinese vehicles, is going against the trend.
During these three summer months, the total value of imports fell by 22.7% and that of exports by 17.8%. Their evolution has been negative since the start of the year, and is accelerating, helped by the fall in prices.
On the other hand, “trade in machinery and electrical equipment, food products and especially transport equipment, however, continues to progress”, the last two presenting more dynamic exports than imports.
“The clear increase – noticeable for some time now – in imports of electric passenger cars from China, whether purely electric or hybrid, constitutes an interesting development in the transport equipment sector,” notes the BNB. Almost non-existent in 2019, these imports now represent monthly amounts of between 500 and 700 million euros (out of approximately 2.5 billion euros of Belgian imports from China per month).
“As with many other products, these are not always imports for consumption or use in Belgium: a significant part, but difficult to quantify, of imports are intended for re-export, often to other countries. “other EU countries”, continues the BNB, noting the presence in the ports of Zeebrugge and Antwerp of large automobile terminals. This also results in a strong increase in exports of transport equipment.
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