Data extracted in May 2025
Planned article update: 15 June 2026
Highlights
In 2024, intermediate services made up 72% of total services extra-EU exports and 82% of total services extra-EU imports.
In 2024, intermediate goods made up 51% of total goods extra-EU exports and 58% of total goods extra-EU imports.
International trade can now be analysed from new perspectives thanks to the latest revision of the classification of Broad Economic Categories (BEC). The main analytical use of the BEC classification is that it offers insight into the end-use of goods and services which can be final use (consumption) or inputs to other economic activities (intermediate use). Goods can also be used for fixed capital formation.
Intermediate goods and services are particularly relevant for the analysis of global value chains (GVCs). GVCs are comprised of the full range of activities that are required to bring a product from its conception, through its design, its sourced raw materials and intermediate inputs, its marketing, its distribution and its support to the final consumer. Cars are a typical example: producers source materials from different widespread geographical locations to assemble them in a central location, a process made possible by low transport and labour costs and improved means of communication.
Disruptions (due to wars, pandemics etc.) in trade in intermediate goods and services pose serious problems for global value chains, where the cessation of production of some intermediate goods in one location could lead to the cessation of production of goods in other locations, demonstrating the fragility of global value chains.
This article is a first step in the analysis of EU exports and imports of goods and services by end-use. The data are still in an experimental phase, partly based on estimates, as explained in the "Methodology" section.
Main conclusions
- Between 2017 and 2024, exports of intermediate services (+66 percentage points (pp)), final services (+53 pp) and intermediate goods (+43 pp) recorded the strongest growth among all categories of goods and services. In 2024 compared to 2023, exports of intermediate services (+14 pp), final services (+11 pp) and intermediate goods (+2 pp ) continued to grow.
- Between 2017 and 2024, imports of intermediate services (+67 pp) and intermediate goods (+47 pp) grew more than any other category of goods and services. However, in 2024 compared to 2023, imports of intermediate goods (-6 pp), capital goods (-3 pp), and final goods (-2 pp) declined. In contrast, imports of intermediate services (+11 pp) and final services (+9 pp) continued to increase in 2024.
- In 2024, intermediate services made up 72% of total services exports and 82% of total services imports. In the same year, intermediate goods made up 51% of total goods exports and 58% of total goods imports.
- In 2024, intermediate services were most prevalent in the category ‘ICT, media, computers, business and financial services’ both for extra-EU exports and imports.
- In 2024, intermediate goods in extra-EU exports were most prevalent in the category 'Health, pharmaceuticals, education, cultural, sport', while for imports they had the largest share in ‘Mining, quarrying, refinery, fuels, chemicals, electricity, water, waste treatment'.
International trade by end-use
Between 2017 and 2019, EU exports increased across all categories (Figure 1). However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp decline in exports for all types of goods and services. The most significant drop was observed in final services, followed by capital goods. In 2020, final services experienced the steepest decline - falling 39 percentage points (pp) below 2017 levels for exports and 40 pp for imports. This dramatic downturn was largely due to the health and sanitary restrictions implemented in response to COVID-19, particularly in the first half of 2020.
Final services are primarily driven by travel-related activities, such as expenditures by foreign tourists and travelers. With international travel virtually halted or severely restricted for much of 2020, the impact is clearly reflected in the decline of final services during that year. In contrast, the declines in goods were less pronounced but still notable.
By 2022, exports across all categories of goods and services had reached their highest levels since 2017. However, in 2024 (compared to the previous year), exports of capital goods declined by 2 pp, while exports of intermediate services, final services, intermediate goods and final goods increased by 14 pp, 11 pp, 4 pp and 1 pp respectively.
When compared to 2017 levels, all categories recorded growth by 2024. Intermediate services saw the highest increase, rising by 66 pp, followed by final services (+53 pp), intermediate goods (+43 pp), capital goods (+21 pp), and final goods (+18 pp).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: bop_its6_det, ext_ser_bec01, DS-1288854 and own calculations)
As with exports, total EU imports of goods and services declined in 2020 compared to 2019, with the steepest drop again observed in final services (Figure 2). Imports of final services began to recover after 2020, surpassing pre-COVID levels in 2022 and reaching their peak in 2024 - standing 37 pp above 2017 levels. Compared to 2023, final services imports grew by 9 pp in 2024.
EU imports of intermediate services experienced only a slight decline in 2020, rebounded in 2021, and continued to grow steadily in the following years. They peaked in 2024 at 67 pp above 2017 levels, with an 11 pp increase compared to 2023.
All categories of goods saw declines in imports in 2020. The sharpest decrease was in intermediate goods (-16 pp), followed by final goods (-9 pp) and capital goods (-7 pp). By 2022, imports in all goods categories had reached their highest levels for the observed period. The increase was particularly strong for intermediate goods, driven largely by a surge in energy prices.
However, this upward trend reversed in 2023 and 2024, with imports of intermediate goods, capital goods, and final goods all declining compared to 2022. In 2024, imports of intermediate goods were down 6 pp, capital goods by 3 pp, and final goods by 2 pp compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, all goods categories still showed substantial growth over 2017 levels: intermediate goods increased by 47 pp, capital goods by 30 pp, and final goods by 24 pp.
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: bop_its6_det, ext_ser_bec01,DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Figures 3 and 4 provide further insight by presenting goods and services trade broken down by end-use (intermediate consumption, final consumption and capital goods).
In 2024, intermediates services are predominant: 72% of the exported and 82% of the imported services were intermediate services (that means that about two to three times as many intermediate services are traded as final services).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ext_ser_bec01 and own calculations)
In goods, 51% of the exported and 58% of the imported goods are intermediate goods. By comparison, capital goods accounted for 23% of exports and 16% of imports, while final goods accounted for 25% for exports and 26% for imports.
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: DS-1288854 and own calculations)
International trade in intermediate goods and services by broad economic category
Figures 5 and 6 show the distribution of extra-EU trade of intermediate goods and services by broad economic categories in 2024. In 2024, the most exported and imported intermediate services to/from the EU were 'ICT, media, computers, business and financial services' (57% for exports and 60% for imports), followed by 'Transport equipment and services, travel, postal services' (22% for exports and 21% for imports), and 'Health, pharmaceuticals, education, cultural, sport services' (8% for exports and 11% for imports).
In exports of intermediate goods, the largest category were 'Health, pharmaceuticals, education, cultural, sport' (27%), 'Construction, wood, glass, stone, basic metals, housing, electrical appliances, furniture' (24%) and 'Transport equipment and services, travel, postal services' (18%).
The leading category for imports of intermediate goods was 'Mining, quarrying, refinery, fuels, chemicals, electricity, water, waste treatment' (39%), followed by 'Construction, wood, glass, stone, basic metals, housing, electrical appliances, furniture' (17%).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ext_ser_bec01, DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ext_ser_bec01,DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Figures 7 and 8 present EU intermediate goods and services trade broken down by broad economic categories in comparison with the total exported/imported goods and services in 2024.
In 2024, the largest shares of intermediate services in total services were found in the categories: 'Textile, apparel, shoes', 'Mining, quarrying, refinery, fuels, chemicals, electricity, water, waste treatment' and 'Government, military and other' (both for exports and imports). For goods, the largest shares of intermediate goods in total goods were in the categories: 'Health, pharmaceuticals, education, cultural, sport' and 'Construction, wood, glass, stone, basic metals, housing, electrical appliances, furniture' (for exports) and in 'Mining, quarrying, refinery, fuels, chemicals, electricity, water, waste treatment' and 'Construction, wood, glass, stone, basic metals, housing, electrical appliances, furniture' (for imports).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ext_ser_bec01,DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ext_ser_bec01,DS-1288854 and own calculations)
International trade in intermediate goods and services by EU country
Figures 9 to 12 present the relative shares of intermediate goods and services in exports and imports for each EU country in 2024. However, the trade in services data should be interpreted with caution, as Eurostat estimated the breakdown of certain EBOPS items into their components for some EU countries.
The highest shares of intermediate services in exports were observed in Denmark (90%) and the Netherlands (87%), while the shares were below 50% in Malta (46%), Spain (45%), Portugal (36%), and Croatia (30%) (see Figure 9).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: bop_its6_det, ext_ser_bec01, and own calculations)
The shares for intermediates in exports of goods were highest in Ireland (78%) and Malta (69%) and lowest in Slovakia (41%) and Cyprus (24%).
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Figure 11 shows that the EU countries predominantly import intermediate services. For Ireland (93%), Malta and Denmark (both 88%) and the Netherlands (87%), a large majority of imported services are intermediate services.
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: bop_its6_det, ext_ser_bec01, and own calculations)
Figure 12 shows that Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria had shares for intermediate goods above 60%, while Cyprus was the only EU countries with a share below 40% for intermediate goods.
Source: Eurostat (online data codes: DS-1288854 and own calculations)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Eurostat disseminates statistics on international trade in two related but different systems of statistics. These two systems are balance of payments statistics (BoP) (for ITSS) and international trade in goods statistics (ITGS). The methodological and conceptual differences in the principles underlying BoP and ITGS are explained in "Differences between balance of payments and foreign trade statistics".
Balance of payments statistics (BOP) cover an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. The methodological standard for the compilation of BOP statistics is the IMF’s 6th edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The implementation of this in Eurostat statistics is explained in the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services.
The source data for international trade in services statistics used in this article, is bop_its6_det enhanced with Eurostat’s own calculations.
Compilation of ITGS is based on European business statistics compilers' manual for international trade in goods statistics — detailed data — 2024 edition. To the most possible extent, European concepts and definitions have been aligned to international recommendations and conventions described in the United Nations Statistics Division publication International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Concepts and Definitions (IMTS 2010).
The source data for international trade in goods statistics used in this article, is DS-1288854 enhanced with Eurostat’s own calculations.
Context
Globalization has created new opportunities as well as competitive challenges, prompting producers to seek more efficient ways to manufacture their products. It has become increasingly common to break down the traditional vertically integrated production model into distinct stages or tasks—a process known as fragmentation—which allows parts of the production process to be outsourced to other countries or economies.
Lower trade barriers, organizational innovations, and progress in information and communication technologies have made dividing the production process both cheaper and easier. Coordination costs have decreased, enabling different stages of production to be spread across two or more countries. Additionally, high labor costs and stringent regulations in more developed countries have accelerated this shift, driving a wave of outsourcing and offshoring to developing economies. [1].
Therefore, instead of intermediate and final production occurring entirely within a single exporting country, exports increasingly include intermediate goods and services sourced from multiple countries. For example, a smartphone exported from Germany may contain microchips manufactured in Taiwan, a display screen produced in South Korea, and software developed in the United States. As a result, the value and characteristics of exports no longer reflect solely the production and technological capabilities of the exporting country, since the product is manufactured across several countries. The value and characteristics of exports rather reflect a complex network of contributions from several countries involved in the supply chain.
To remain competitive, enterprises are increasingly organizing their production on a global scale, breaking down their value chains into smaller segments supplied by a growing number of providers located around the world, forming so-called global value chains (GVCs). These GVCs encompass the full spectrum of activities needed to bring a product or service from its initial conception through the various stages of production, delivery to final consumers, and ultimately to final disposal after use.
The rise of GVCs has made the analytical distinction between trade in intermediate goods and services versus trade in final goods and services more significant. In this context, it is important to recognize that all trade in intermediate services is inherently part of GVC trade: both the trading enterprises—the exporter or supplier and the importer or customer—are integrated components of a global value chain.
For international trade in goods a classification distinguishing intermediate, final consumption and capital goods already existed. The new BEC Rev. 5 classification improves on this classification and for the first time extends the classification to include also services. This allows the distinction in intermediate services and final consumption services. Table 1 shows the end-use categories of goods and services in BEC Rev. 5.
Figure 13 gives an overview of the structure of BEC Rev.5.
Footnotes
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Thematic section
Methodology
1. Input
The conversion from EBOPS 2010 items to BEC Rev.5 categories was made using the fine-tuned correlation table, published on RAMON Eurostat classifications server with the modelled allocation shares. This table is based on a correspondence table between the Classification by Broad Economic Categories revision 5 (BEC Rev. 5), the Central Product Classification, version 2.1 (CPC 2.1) and the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification, version 2010 (EBOPS 2010), published by the UNSD. The fine-tuned table builds upon the EBOPS-CPC-BEC conversion table and provides modelled allocation shares of the EBOPS items to the relevant BEC Rev.5 categories (the estimations are evidence based and applicable for the EU).
More specifically, when a single EBOPS item corresponds to multiple BEC codes, Eurostat applied additional information and modelling techniques to allocate the EBOPS code among the relevant BEC categories.
This mapping was estimated using data from Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics, Structural Business Statistics (SBS), National Accounts, and modelling based on the count-seed RAS methodology[1].
In some instances, an allocation could not be determined because the available data were only available at a more aggregated level. These cases include:
- Operating leasing services (SJ33),
- Trade-related services (SJ34),
- Other direct insurance services (SF13), and
- Explicitly charged financial services (SG1).
For these items, Eurostat applied an estimated proportional allocation. However, in most cases, this does not affect the classification between Intermediate and Final consumption, as all associated BEC categories share the same end-use.
2. Estimations Some of the detailed EBOPS items required for the EBOPS to BEC conversion table are confidential or non-publishable, particularly at the individual country level, or simply unavailable (e.g., voluntary items). To address this, Eurostat estimated all missing voluntary items in the country datasets by calculating imputation shares based on the values reported by other countries. The reported voluntary items from a subset of countries were used to define these shares for countries that did not report these items.
For the Travel item (SD), the breakdown by type of product was estimated for all countries using the shares provided in the correlation table, except for those countries that already report these sub-items to Eurostat, namely Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Sweden.
The EBOPS to BEC conversion requires removing the value of goods included in the Travel category from BEC services, as these goods should instead be allocated to BEC goods categories. For the purposes of this article, it was assumed that approximately 25% of the Travel item’s value corresponds to goods—an estimate based on modelling and data reported by some countries. Consequently, the total value of BEC services is always lower than the total services reported under EBOPS 2010.
The breakdown of the item Charges for the use of intellectual property (SH) into its sub-items was estimated (either fully or partially) for all countries except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Croatia, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden (for both exports and imports).
All estimations for missing items in 2024 were based on the shares derived from 2023 data.
- ↑ Mattia Cai & José Manuel Rueda-Cantuche (2019) Bridging macroeconomic data between statistical classifications: the count-seed RAS approach, Economic Systems Research, 31:3, 382-403, DOI: 10.1080/09535314.2018.1540404. Accessed here: JRC Publications Repository: Browsing JRC Publications Repository (europa.eu)