In 2024, 21.3% of EU enterprises engaged in international (intra-EU and extra-EU) trade in goods were two-way traders, while 70.6% were solely importers and the remaining 8.1% were exporters.
In terms of value, two-way traders accounted for the vast majority (95.4%) of all goods traded, ahead of enterprises that only imported (3.7%) and those that only exported (0.9%).
Source dataset: ext_tec06
The highest shares of two-way EU traders were recorded for manufacturing (43.8%), followed by mining and quarrying (36.8%) and wholesale and retail trade (29.6%). Real estate activities (7.4%), construction (8.4%) and financial and insurance activities (10.3%) had the lowest shares of enterprises engaged in two-way trading.
On the other hand, the highest shares of enterprises that only import were found in construction (87.3%), real estate activities (86.5%) and financial and insurance activities (82.4%). The lowest shares were found in manufacturing (44.7%) mining and quarrying (46.5%), and water supply (57.5%).
Regarding exporting-only enterprises, agriculture, forestry and fishing (19.7%), mining and quarrying (16.7%) and transportation and storage (14.3%) were the activities with the highest shares, while construction (4.4%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (5.9%), and real estate activities (6.1%) had the lowest shares.