24/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - In September 2004, the euro zone saw a trade surplus of 3.1 billion EUR, and the EU of 25 a deficit of 7.6 billion . From January to August 2004, the deficit of the EU25 in the field of energy fell (-91.8 billion to -85.5 billion for the same period in 2003), whereas the surplus for machines and vehicles and chemicals increased sharply. Only imports from the US fell (-1% between January and August 2004 compared to 2003), and trade between the EU25 and its main partners increased. The most significant increase for imports related to China (+21%), Turkey (+18%), Brazil (+17%) and South Korea (+16%), and for exports, Turkey (+35%), Russia (+21%) and China (+19%). Individually, Germany had the largest surplus (+109.8 billion EUR), ahead of Ireland (+24.5) and the Netherlands (+19.8%) and the UK recorded the largest deficit (-63.9), followed by Spain (-34.6) and Greece (-19.6).