Euro zone trade remained in surplus in May and the April surplus was revised up, data showed today, as exports continued to grow twice as fast as imports despite a strong euro.
The euro zone's seasonally unadjusted trade surplus fell to €1.7 billion from a revised €2.3 billion in April, the European Union's statistics office said.
Exports grew by 7 per cent year-on-year while imports rose 3 per cent after an 11 per cent export rise in April and a 6 per cent increase in imports.
Rises in European Central Bank interest 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.
On a trade weighted basis, in May the euro was at its strongest since the start of 2005, having appreciated 7.5 per cent from early March 2006 to mid-May.
Economists have said, however, that an economic slowdown in the United States, the euro zone's second-biggest trading partner after Britain, was a more important factor than the exchange rate.
After months of steady appreciation, the euro has recorded new all-time highs against both the dollar and the yen this month. Eurostat data showed that euro zone exports to the United States eased 1 per cent in the January-April period and the trade surplus fell to €19.9 billion from €22.1 billion a year before.
With Japan, euro zone imports grew by 3 per cent in the January-April period while exports rose only 1 per cent. The trade deficit with Japan widened to €7.8 billion from 7.4 billion. France, the most vocal critic of the euro's strength, saw its exports fall 1.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in May, with imports rising 1.7 per cent.