Eurozone’s trade surplus for February

The eurozone logged a trade surplus with the rest of the world of €2.8 billion in February, after a deficit of €7.9 billion in January, the European Union said yesterday.

Seasonally-adjusted exports from the currency area in February rose by 2.4 per cent and imports by 3.5 per cent compared to the previous month, the Eurostat data agency said.

One year earlier, the eurozone had registered a deficit of €2.8 billion.

Across the 27-state EU, which includes non-euro giant Britain and also Poland, the February trade deficit came in at €9.4 billion, down from €23.5 billion in January.

The figure for February 2011 was €10.5 billion.

Detailed numbers for January showed that the EU logged a bigger trade surplus with the United States than one year earlier (€5.9 billion compared to €4.1 billion) and a smaller deficit with China (€14.7 billion as against €15.8 billion).

Germany had the biggest surplus in January, of €13.1 billion, while Britain the largest deficit (€11.6 billion).