BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — The European Union (EU)’s international trade in goods partially recovered in September compared with August, but remained under the pre-pandemic levels, according to Eurostat.

The first estimate for extra-EU exports of goods in September 2020 was 171 billion euros (202 billion U.S. dollars), down by 3.8 percent compared with September 2019. The imports from the rest of the world stood at 146.5 billion euros, down by 8.9 percent compared with last year, it said in a news release Friday.

In August 2020, the year-on-year declines of exports and imports were 14 percent and 15.6 percent respectively.

According to the EU’s statistical office, China was the main partner for the EU in the first nine months.

In September, the exports of goods decreased year-on-year in 16 EU member states and ten countries’ exports showed an increase. The largest decrease, at minus 23.0 percent, was registered in Greece, while the largest increase, at 24.7 percent, was recorded in Estonia. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars)