Eurozone Trade Surplus Falls Sharply On Strong Imports

(RTTNews) - The euro area trade surplus declined sharply in January as imports logged a notable growth, figures from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.

The trade surplus fell to EUR 1 billion in January from EUR 10.6 billion in the last year. The surplus totaled EUR 15.4 billion in December. Exports moved up 3.0 percent annually, slightly faster than the 2.9 percent rise in December. Meanwhile, growth in imports accelerated to 7.6 percent from 3.6 percent.

Eurostat said two product groups drove the decrease in trade surplus with a negative change. Machineries and vehicles posted the largest decline, falling to EUR 7.4 billion from EUR 16.5 billion in December.

Other manufactured goods shifted to a deficit of EUR 4.6 billion from a surplus of EUR 1.2 billion.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, exports grew 2.1 percent and imports advanced 2.3 percent. As a result, the trade surplus slightly decreased to EUR 14.0 billion, down from EUR 14.2 billion in December.