Euro Zone Trade Surplus Expands to EUR 12 Billion in February

The trade surplus in the euro zone expanded more than anticipated in February, driven by stronger export growth compared to imports, according to official data released on Monday.

Eurostat reported that the trade surplus increased to EUR 12 billion in February, up from EUR 8.7 billion in January, with the January figure being revised from an earlier estimate of EUR 9 billion.

Economists had predicted the trade surplus would rise to EUR 9.9 billion for February.

The data indicated that exports amounted to EUR 156.9 billion in February, while imports totaled EUR 144.9 billion.

In the wake of this release, the euro continued to lose ground against the U.S. dollar, dropping 0.3% to a value of 1.3072.

Additionally, European stock markets experienced declines. The EURO STOXX 50 fell by 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 decreased by 0.2%, the FTSE 100 in London dropped by 0.5%, and Germany’s DAX retreated by 0.3%.