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The euro zone had a bigger than expected unadjusted trade surplus in December, as exports surged eight percent year-on-year and imports edged just one percent higher, data showed.
The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said the trade surplus of the 18 countries sharing the euro last year was Euro 24.3 billion, almost double the Euro 13.6 billion in December 2013 and well above market expectations of Euro 20.5 billion.
For the whole of 2014, exports rose 2 per cent over 2013 while imports were flat, bringing the overall trade surplus for the whole year to Euro 194.8 billion from Euro 152.3 billion in 2013.
More detailed data for December was not yet available, but numbers for the January-November period showed that much of the improvement in trade balance was due to a sharp fall in the deficit in the energy trade, thanks to plummeting oil prices.
Eurostat said that in the first 11 months of last year, the energy trade deficit fell to Euro 256.7 billion euros from Euro 292.5 billion in the same period of 2013.
Adjusted for seasonal swings, the euro zone's trade surplus was only minimally smaller at Euro 23.3 billion in December, as exports fell 1.1 per cent month-on-month and exports declined 2.4 per cent.
