Eurozone Trade Surplus Shrinks In August

(RTTNews) - The euro area trade surplus decreased in August from a year ago as exports fell faster than imports, official data revealed on Thursday.

The trade surplus dropped to EUR 1.0 billion in August from EUR 3.0 billion last year, Eurostat reported. In July, the trade surplus was EUR 12.7 billion.

This downturn was mainly due to a sharp reduction in the surplus of machinery and vehicles, which fell from EUR 18.0 billion to EUR 7.8 billion.

Overall exports declined 4.7 percent year-on-year in August, reversing a 0.5 percent increase in July. Similarly, imports decreased 3.8 percent from a 3.0 percent growth in the previous month.

Data showed that seasonally adjusted exports dropped 2.4 percent, while imports advanced 3.1 percent in June. As a result, the trade surplus fell to EUR 2.8 billion from EUR 15.6 billion.

Data showed that seasonally adjusted exports dropped 0.8 percent monthly in August, and imports declined 2.4 percent. As a result, the trade surplus rose to EUR 9.7 billion from EUR 6.0 billion.

The EU trade in goods resulted in a deficit of EUR 5.8 billion, which was above last year's shortfall of EUR 2.4 billion, as the extra-EU exports declined 6.7 percent, while imports decreased 4.9 percent.