The euro zone trade surplus widened in November because imports fell more sharply than exports, data from the EU’s statistics office Eurostat showed today, pointing to continued weakness of domestic demand.

The 17 countries sharing the euro had an external trade surplus, unadjusted for seasonal swings, of €17.1 billion, in line with economists expectations. It was above the €12.5 billion in the same period of last year and a revised €16.8 billion surplus in October and for the first 11 months of 2013 it was €139 billion - almost double that of the same period in 2012.

Non-seasonally adjusted, exports from the euro zone fell by 2 per cent on the year in November after a 1 per cent rise in October, while imports dropped by 5 percent, following a 3 per cent contraction in October.

The United Kingdom remains the euro zone’s key business partner with cumulative exports for the January to November period up by 3 per cent and imports down by 2 per cent. Exports to China, the region’s third biggest trade partner after the second United States, were flat in the first 11 months of last year while imports fell 6 per cent, leaving a €69 billion trade deficit, down from €78.7 billion in the same period of 2012.

In a sign of rising competitiveness, exports of Europe’s southern periphery countries - Spain, Portugal and Greece - were up by 4 per cent in the January to November period, with cumulative trade deficits shrinking in all three year-on-year.

Germany’s trade surplus in the first 11 months of the year rose on the year, with flat exports and a 1 per cent drop in imports, while France’s deficit, shrinking year-on-year, was mainly due to a drop in imports. (Reuters)