LONDON—The euro zone's surplus on trade with the rest of the world shrank in October as imports rose, official data showed Friday.
The 17-nation currency bloc's trade balance showed a surplus of €1.1 billion ($1.43 billion) in October, down from €3.1 billion in the comparable month of 2010, statistics agency Eurostat said. Exports grew 6% on an annual basis but were outpaced by 7% growth in imports.
Data for individual economies, given in seasonally adjusted terms, showed German exports outside of the 27 European Union countries shrinking by 1.7%, while its imports from outside the region grew 2.6%. French exports outside the EU fell 0.4% but its imports grew 1.8%.
