By Joshua Kirby
The eurozone booked a trade surplus in September, continuing a swing from hefty deficits last year, as the costs of energy imports dropped sharply.
The bloc’s goods-trade balance–the difference between exports and imports–showed a surplus of 10.0 billion euros ($10.88 billion), compared with a deficit of EUR36.6 billion in September 2022, according to figures set out by European Union statistics agency Eurostat on Wednesday.
Last year’s deficit came amid high prices for energy imports as prices spiked following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with prices paid for Russian natural gas notably high. In the first nine months of 2023, the European Union’s trade deficit with Russia stood at EUR10.6 billion, tumbling from the EUR125.6 billion deficit it notched in the same period last year, as total imports from Russia fell more than 75%.
Adjusted for seasonal swings, the eurozone trade surplus was EUR9.2 billion in September, falling from a surplus of EUR11.1 billion in August, as exports fell slightly and imports rose, also slightly.
Write to Joshua Kirby at [email protected]; @joshualeokirby
