South Korea’s balance of trade with the European Union has significantly improved this year.

According to trade figures from Eurostat, South Korea’s exports to the EU reached 27-point-five billion euros in the first eight months of the year, down zero-point-four percent year-on-year.

However, its imports from the EU dropped by ten percent over the period from 31-point-seven billion euros to 28-point-seven euros.

Accordingly, the country’s trade deficit with the EU marked one-point-two billion euros in the January-August period, compared to four billion euros from the same period of last year.

South Korea also emerged as the EU’s eighth largest trading partner after the U.S., China, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, Japan and Norway.