The euro zone's trade surplus widened slightly in September from August as both imports and exports expanded, reflecting an improving global economy, data from Eurostat showed today.
The non-seasonally adjusted trade surplus rose to €8.5 billion in September from a revised €7.5 billion in August. In September 2002 the surplus was €9.2 billion.
The August surplus was initially estimated at €6.5 billion.
The surplus was largely in line with forecasts of economists polled by Reuters, who had expected a surplus of €8.25 billion for the 12-nation region.
Compared with September 2002, euro zone exports were steady at €90.1 billion from €90.3 billion, while imports inched up one per cent to €81.6 billion from €81.1 billion.
Seasonally-adjusted, exports eased 0.9 per cent in September from August and imports fell 2.4 per cent, Eurostat said.