Europeans see benefits in international trade / Article / LSM.lv

Facts and figures: Europeans see benefits in international tradeInguna Ukenābele00:00 / 02:52

–A Eurobarometer poll a year ago shows that six out of ten Europeans believe they benefit from international trade. Most respondents indicated that the main benefit was a wider choice. At least four out of ten Europeans have bought goods or services in online shops outside the European Union (EU) themselves in a year. Most often from China.

International trade is seen as a plus

In 2019, Eurobarometer conducted a second survey of Europeans on international trade. 60% of respondents indicated that they benefit from international trade. This is 16 percentage points more than in the first survey in 2010, showing that, following the financial crisis, Europeans’ perceptions of the benefits of international trade in their lives have grown significantly.

It remains to be seen how Europeans’ perceptions have changed now, as the restrictions on movement imposed by Covid-19 have significantly changed the possibilities for purchasing goods or services produced outside the EU. Of course, international trade has not stopped, but it must be taken into account that transport has not resumed to normal levels, especially to distant destinations. Therefore, traditional orders, for example, from online stores on other continents can travel for an unpredictable period of time.

In 2019, the Nordic population pointed out the most benefits from international trade. 86% of Swedes and 80% of Finns believe this. On the other hand, those who think that international trade does not give them anything were more in the south of Europe – in Italy, Greece and Romania.

The opinion of the Latvian population is somewhere in the middle. Last year, 52% of the Latvian population who thought that international trade was a benefit. But 44% thought that international trade did not give them anything. Another 4% did not have a specific opinion. In this respect, Estonians and Lithuanians are more convinced of the benefits of international trade in their lives – 65% of respondents in Estonia and 66% in Lithuania have answered positively.

As the main benefit of international trade, a majority or 54% of Europeans have indicated more choice.

Another 36% mentioned that imported goods are cheaper. However, this is the biggest change compared to the 2010 survey. The number of those who think that imported goods are cheaper has decreased by 11 percentage points.

In Latvia, 61% of the respondents have indicated that the main benefit from international trade is a wider choice.

On the other hand, among Europeans who have indicated in the survey that they do not gain anything from international trade, one specific reason does not prevail. There is a fairly similar proportion of responses to a decline in the quality of imported products, higher prices for certain imported goods, and international trade contributing to unemployment and environmental damage caused by the transport of goods.

Goods from China

Goods imported from elsewhere are commonplace in our stores, and sometimes we don’t even pay attention to where the one or another thing we buy is made. At the same time, the development of e-commerce has opened up opportunities for citizens to order goods produced elsewhere directly, bypassing intermediaries. However, a Eurobarometer survey shows that the majority, or 57%, of Europeans have never bought goods online from traders outside the EU. 19% have made such purchases once or twice during the year, but the rest – more often.

Among other things, Latvians’ shopping in online stores outside the EU is somewhere in the middle of other European countries.

46% of our citizens have ordered something in online stores outside the EU at least once a year, but 52% have never done so.

The most active purchasers of goods in online stores outside the EU were British residents (at the time of the survey it was still an EU member state) – at least once a year, 61%. Luxembourg and Ireland follow with 56%. On the other hand, the least used by the population of Romania, as well as Bulgaria and Greece – in Romania 20% and 24% in the latter two countries, respectively.

Unsurprisingly, it is clear that most goods are bought in Chinese online shops, where 58% of Europeans have ordered something outside the EU. At the same time, surveyors point out that Chinese online stores, such as the huge Alibaba Group, do not only sell Chinese-made goods. As a result, consumers sometimes get the impression that they are ordering Chinese goods in Chinese online shops, when in fact it may be a completely different country, perhaps from Europe.

It is still difficult to estimate the impact of Covid-19 on cross-border online ordering. On the one hand, it was during the pandemic that internet sales grew, but on the other hand, due to disrupted supplies, many also considered it worthwhile to order something in stores outside the EU, knowing that the order could arrive much later than normal.

However, it was during the pandemic that many Europeans tried shopping in online stores for the first time. Therefore, it is expected that this type of trade will be used much more widely after the pandemic than before. Most likely also for purchases outside the EU.

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