The foreign trade surplus in the euro zone increased in October. The adjusted trade surplus as the difference between exports and imports rose from 8.7 billion euros in the previous month to 10.9 billion euros, as the Eurostat statistics office announced in Luxembourg on Friday. On average, analysts had only expected an increase to 10 billion euros.
The development is due to increased exports while imports fell. Exports climbed by 0.7 percent and imports fell by 0.3 percent. Foreign trade in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) developed similarly to that in the 20 countries of the European currency area.
The Eurozone and the EU typically run solid trade surpluses. In recent years, however, there have been some large deficits, most recently due to high import costs as a result of sharp increases in energy prices. Energy prices have fallen again in recent months. Recently, however, exports have tended to be burdened by the weakening global economy. (dpa)