Luxembourg, 03/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - According to estimates by the statistical office, Eurostat, the euro zone registered a trade surplus of 300 million euro in February, following a 4.5 billion euro deficit the previous month. In February 1999, the trade surplus of the euro zone with the rest of the world stood at 4.3 billion euro. Euro zone exports increased by 23% on February 1999 to reach 74 billion euro, whereas imports (73.7 billion) saw an increase of 32% for the same period. It is energy imports, with the price increase for oil products, that were mainly to blame for the deterioration of the trade balance of the euro zone, as well as for the European Union as a whole, whose trade deficit reached 13.1 billion euro in January and 7.1 billion in February.
In January 2000, it was Germany that had the largest surplus (2.7 billion euro), ahead of Belgium (1.3 billion), whereas the United Kingdom suffered a greater deficit (5.2 billion). France and Italy recorded a deficit of 1.1 billion euro. The greatest deficits were recorded with China (3.5 billion) and Japan (3.4 billion). The largest surplus came from trade with the United States.
At the same time, data for industrial production confirms the announced recovery. Eurostat data for February refer to a rise of 1.2% on January for the euro zone and 0.9% for the EU as a whole. The expansion was particularly strong for durable consumer goods. By country, it was higher than average in the Netherlands and Germany, but did not yet concern all Member States.