The overwhelming volume of EU bilateral trade is concentrated in the hands of 22% of companies

According to Eurostat data for 2023, published on 25 June 2025, only 21.7% of European Union companies were involved in bilateral trade in goods, i.e. exporting and importing at the same time. However, these very companies accounted for 95.3 per cent of the total value of trade, indicating a huge concentration of foreign economic activity in the hands of a relatively small number of players.

In comparison, 70 per cent of EU enterprises were only importers, while 8.3 per cent were engaged exclusively in exports. However, their combined contribution to trade turnover was only 3.9% and 0.8% respectively - shares that clearly demonstrate the structural asymmetry in the EU trading system.

The sectors of the economy with the largest share of companies with bilateral trade include manufacturing, with almost 46 per cent, as well as mining and water and waste management. In these sectors, the scale of operations and infrastructure favours greater involvement in international supply.

In contrast, companies from the real estate, construction and finance sectors tend to limit themselves to imports only. For example, more than 86% of construction and development firms in the EU are exclusively importers.

The agriculture and fisheries sector, as well as the extractive industries, showed relatively high performance among those engaged only in exporting - about one in five exports without importing. By comparison, this approach is extremely rare in construction and property, with only 4-7 per cent of companies engaging in net exporting.

These statistics emphasise the stark contrast between the number of enterprises and the scale of their participation in trade. The majority of SMEs remain outside global value chains, while large companies form the core of the EU's international trade.

This distribution raises questions about the equity of market access and the effectiveness of policies to support small businesses in trade. It is becoming clear that measures that allow more enterprises to participate in both sides of the trade process - both imports and exports - are needed to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of the domestic market.