What are goods and services in the European Union for?

31,674 goods and services worth of goods and services produced in the EU in 2022 billion EUR, while the value of imports from non-EU countries (excluding trade within the EU) amounted to EUR 3 106 billion.

Almost half (48.7 %) of these goods and services were used for intermediate consumption, meaning that they were used to produce other products. Another significant share, 31.2 %, was used for final consumption, usually households or the government sector. Approximately one tenth of the supply (10.6 %) was used for gross capital formation, mostly for investments, and the remaining 9.5 % of the total offer for the EU was related to Export products (worth €3 291 billion).

Between 2010 and 2022, the shares of these uses remained mostly stable. Intermediate consumption reached a low point in 2016 and then again in 2020, when its share of total supply bottomed out at 46.3 %. From 2020 onwards, an increasing trend set in, culminating in 2022 at 48.7 %. Conversely, the share of final consumption expenditure in total supply peaked in 2010 at 35.3 % and slowly and steadily declined to 31.2 % in 2022.

In terms of gross capital formation and exports, their shares of total supply increased from 9.8 and 7.8 % in 2010 to 10.6 and 9.5 % in 2022, respectively, peaking at the end of the period under review.

COVID-19 impact on the economy

Supply and use tables can be a valuable tool for analysing the impact of exogenous events on the economy. In particular, comparing the data for 2019 and 2020 in 2019 prices shows the impact of COVID-19 on consumer demand in terms of changes in the volume of services consumed. A good example is the sharp decline in the volume of supply and consumption of accommodation and food services between 2019 and 2020.

Final consumption of these services by households fell by more than 50 % in Croatia, Greece and Cyprus, while the smallest decline among EU countries was recorded in Sweden (-16 %), followed by Romania (-21 %), Finland (-22 %) and Poland (-23 %). This trend was related to a decrease in domestic production, intermediate consumption and value added in the accommodation and food services sector.

Eurostat/ gnews - RoZ