The first estimates for international trade in goods showed that the results for both the euro area and the European Union (EU) were considerably lower than those recorded in May 2019, a report from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) showed on Thursday.

According to the figures, the euro area's international trade surplus in May stood at 9.4 billion euros, compared with last year's 20.7 billion euros.

This was due to a decline of 29.5 percent year-over-year in the exports of goods from the euro area to 143.3 billion euros, and a decline of 26.7 percent in imports from the rest of the world to 133.9 billion euros.

The European Union as a whole experienced an even greater decline in its international trade surplus, about 60 percent decline, resulting in a surplus of 7.1 billion euros in May 2020, compared with a 18.6-billion-euro surplus of the previous year.

This was reflected in the value of EU exports of goods which stood at 129.8 billion euros and imports at 122.6 billion euros this May, representing a year-on-year decline of 29.7 percent and a drop of 26.2 percent respectively. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars)