The June 2008 balance revealed a deficit of €200 million, compared with a surplus of €7.5 billion in June 2007. Seasonally adjusted exports rose by 3.7% and imports by 5.8% year-on-year in July 2008 in the euro zone, Eurostat said.

The 27-member EU recorded a trade deficit of €21.5 billion in July 2008, a considerable rise from the €13.6 billion deficit in July 2007. In June 2008, the EU trade balance deficit stood at €20.0 billion, compared with €9.1 billion in June 2007. In July 2008 compared with June 2008, seasonally adjusted EU exports rose by 3.9% and imports by 4.1%.

In the first six months of 2008, the EU energy deficit increased to €181.1 billion from €122.0 billion in January-June 2007, while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose in the same period to €74.2 billion from €57.6 billion. In the first six months of 2008, among all the EU member states, the largest trade surplus was observed in Germany with €103.2 billion, followed by the NetherlandsIreland (13.0 billion). In the same period, Britain registered the largest deficit of €61.1 billion, followed by Spain (50.2 billion), France (21.8 billion) and (31.9billion) and Greece (18.1 billion) (Xinhua)