(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 17 MAG - The European Union is a "key trading partner" for the countries in the Balkans that are moving towards joining the EU, both in terms of exports and imports, the EU statistical office Eurostat recalled today.

According to Eurostat data, in 2017 Macedonia exported over 80% of its total exports of goods to the EU (EUR 4.0 bn).

Macedonia was followed by Albania (EUR 1.6 bn, 77% of total exports), Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUR 4.0 bn, 71%), Serbia (EUR 9.7 bn, 68%), Montenegro (EUR 0.1 bn, 35%) and Kosovo (EUR 94 mn, 25%). Data from Eurostat show that Balkan countries still not part of the Union, with the exception of Montenegro, have dramatically increasing their exports to the EU in the last decade, with the highest increases registered in Serbia (from 4 bn in 2007 to 9.7 bn in 2017), Macedonia (from 1.7 bn in 2007 to 4 bn in 2017), Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 2.4 to 4 bn) and Albania (from 158 mn to 1.6 bn).

In 2017, Macedonia was also the country with the highest share of imports from the European Union (EUR 4.3 bn, 63% of the total), followed by Albania (EUR 2.9 bn, 62%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUR 5.7 bn, 61%), Serbia (EUR 10.3 bn, 59%), Montenegro (EUR 1.1 bn, 47%) and Kosovo (EUR 1.3 bn, 43%).

Import from the EU are also significantly increasing since 2007.

In 2017, the trade balance in goods between the EU and the Western Balkans registered a surplus for the EU of EUR 9 bn (+10% compared to 2016), with imports from the Western Balkans doubling since 2007 (from €9 bn to €20 bn in 2017) and exports increasing from EUR 18 bn in 2007 to EUR 29 bn in 2017.

Eurostat noted that in 2017 the largest exporters to the Western Balkans were Germany (16% of the total EU exports of goods) and Italy (14%), followed by Slovenia (10%), Hungary (9%) and Croatia (8%). Germany (23% of the EU imports of goods from the Balkans) and Italy (18%) were also the largest destinations of imports from the region, Eurostat said. (ANSA).