The eurozone’s trade surplus rose year-on-year in July as exports grew faster than imports, pointing to a positive contribution to economic growth at the start of the third quarter, the EU’s statistics office data showed.

Eurostat said the non-seasonally adjusted external trade surplus of the 18 countries sharing the euro was €21.2 billion in July, up from €18 billion in July 2013. Exports increased three per cent year-on-year while imports only one per cent.

Adjusted for seasonal swings, however, and on a month-on-month basis, exports edged 0.2 per cent lower in July against June while imports rose 0.9 per cent. The seasonally adjusted trade balance was a €12.2 billion surplus, down from €13.8 billion in June and €15.2 billion in May.

There was no detailed data for July yet, but Eurostat said that in the first six months of the year the eurozone’s trade deficit in energy narrowed to €144.9 billion from €157.8 billion in the first six months of 2013.

The trade deficit with Russia, Europe’s main oil and gas supplier, rose slightly to €31.7 billion in the January-June period from €29.5 billion in the same period of 2013, because eurozone experts to Russia tumbled 14 per cent and the value of imports fell only 6 per cent.

The biggest contributions to the eurozone trade surplus came from a strong exports increase to Britain and the US and as well as China.

Germany remains Europe’s biggest exporter with a trade surplus of €100.7 billion in the first six months of the year. Britain is Europe’s biggest importer, with a trade deficit of €60.2 billion in the first six months.