Euro trade surplus, but lower imports

The trade surplus for the 17 countries sharing the euro, unadjusted for seasonal swings, was 10.4 billion euros (£8.9bn) in February

This was greater than the 3.0 billion surplus consensus forecast of economists polled by Reuters.

The statistics office also revised January’s figure to a deeper deficit of 4.7 billion euros, from a previous 3.9 billion.

Although the eurozone showed a trade surplus, this was mainly due to reduced demand for imports, showing the bloc’s difficulty of increasing domestic demand as it lingers in a second year of recession.

The value of goods imported by eurozone countries from outside the bloc decreased by 7 per cent in February versus February 2012.

For the month of January, Eurostat’s latest available month of full data, the eurozone’s energy deficit decreased slightly from a year ago to 30.0 billion euros from 30.7 billion.

Exports in goods like cars and chemicals rose during the same period, posting a 2.6 billion euro increase year-on-year.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, started the year with the bloc’s largest trade surplus in January, of 13.6 billion euros, on an unadjusted basis.

Countries under European Union and International Monetary Fund emergency funding programmes showed mixed performances.