The euro zone's trade surplus fell in April as imports recovered from a decline a month before, but exports also held up well despite a strong euro and slower growth in the United States, data showed today.
The euro zone's seasonally unadjusted trade surplus fell to €1.8 billion from a revised €7.6 billion in March, the European Union's statistics office said.
Seasonally adjusted, the surplus in the 13 countries using the euro fell to €3.5 billion from €5.4 billion in March, after imports rose 2.2 per cent in April against the previous month and exports increased 0.6 per cent.
Rising ECB rates have strengthened the euro against the US dollar and the Japanese yen, prompting complaints from the euro zone's second-biggest economy, France, that the exchange rate was hurting its exports.
Economists said the strength of the euro may have played a role in the April deterioration of the external trade balance. However, an economic slowdown in the United States, the euro zone's second-biggest trading partner after Britain, was a more important factor.
After months of steady appreciation, the euro hit all-time highs against the dollar at the end of April and firmed to a record against the yen earlier in June.
The only two countries to which euro zone exports fell year-on-year in the first quarter of 2007 were the United States and Japan, with a 2 per cent and 1 per cent decline respectively.