The euro zone's trade balance swung into a surplus in March from deficits the previous month and a year earlier as exports dipped marginally more slowly than imports amid the worst recession in decades, new data show.
The unadjusted external trade surplus of the 16 countries using the euro came to €400 million against deficits of €1 billion in February and €2.3 billion in March 2008, the European Union's statistics office said.
Unadjusted exports fell 17 per cent year-on-year in March to €108.0 billion while imports dropped 18 per cent to €107.6 billion, the Eurostat figures showed.
The euro zone economy contracted 2.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the January-March period - its deepest fall on record - in what economists said was likely the low point of the recession.
Adjusted for seasonal swings, the euro zone had a €2.1 billion trade deficit in March, but that was up from a 2.9 billion gap in February and a €6.6 billion shortfall in January.
Seasonally adjusted exports rose 1.4 per cent month-on-month in March while imports gained 0.6 per cent.
Despite the global recession, exports from the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany, grew by 7.5 per cent month-on-month in March to €26 billion and its trade surplus rose to €5.1 billion from €3.4 billion in February.
A more detailed breakdown of the numbers for March was not yet available, but data for January to February showed the euro zone's trade surpluses with its top two trading partners - Britain and the United States - fell.
The trade deficit with China eased slightly as did trade gaps with Russia, Japan and Norway.
Reuters