Euro zone foreign trade hits €2bn surplus

The euro zone's foreign trade swung to a €2 billion surplus in June from a €3

The euro zone's foreign trade swung to a €2 billion surplus in June from a €3.2 billion deficit in May, European Union statistics office Eurostat said today.

The 12-nation currency area's non-seasonally adjusted imports grew by 13 per cent year-on-year in June, while exports increased by 8 per cent.

In June 2005, the euro zone had an external trade surplus of €6.8 billion, as exports served as the main engine of economic growth while domestic consumption was weak.

Consumer demand has since picked up, despite interest rate rises by the European Central Bank, helping to boost growth to 0.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2006 from the January-March period. That was the fastest quarterly expansion in six years.

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Eurostat said that adjusted for seasonality, the trade figures showed a gap of €1.1 billion in June, compared with a revised €1.2 billion deficit in May, with exports and imports both rising by 0.3 per cent.

The June data does not contain breakdowns. Detailed data for May showed continued high deficits in energy and primary products trade and a healthy surplus in manufacturing goods.

The euro zone's deficit in energy trade hit €105.5 billion for January-May, compared with €73 billion a year earlier. The surplus in manufacturing goods increased to €90 billion from €85.3 billion.