Brussels, 22/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Member States of the euro zone recorded a trade deficit on the up in 2004, to 74.4 billion EUR, compared to 69.7 billion in 2003, according to initial estimations published on Tuesday by Eurostat. Exports grew by 8% and imports by 9% in 2004 compared to the previous year. Only in the month of December 2004 did the trade balance of the euro zone record a surplus of 5.7 billion EUR, against 2.7 billion EUR (adjusted figure) the previous month. In the whole of the European Union (EU25), trade with the rest of the world returned a surplus of 60.9 billion EUR, after a deficit of 57.8 billion EUR the previous year. Exports rose 10% from one year to the next, and imports by 9%. Across the European Union, the December deficit rose to 1.2 billion EUR, against a deficit of 8.5 billion EUR in November. The difference between the two zones is down to the large trade deficit in the United Kingdom (87.9 billion EUR in the first eleven months of 2004).