20/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to initial estimates published by Eurostat on 20 December for October 2002, the euro zone recorded an external trade surplus of 8.7 billion euro with the rest of the world, compared to +10.1 billion in October 2001: the (revised) balance for September 2002 was +9.0 billion, compared to +4.5 billion in September 2001. The euro zone recorded an external trade surplus of 84.9 billion for the first ten months of 2002, compared to +34.4 billion in 2001.