Euro Zone Surplus Widens, German Manufacturing Jobs Rise 2.5%

Arthi Gupta
17 Sep, 2012
New York City

The euro zone current account surplus narrowed, German manufacturing sector employment rose, and Italy recorded a surplus of

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – The euro zone current account surplus narrowed, German manufacturing sector employment rose, and Italy recorded a surplus of €4.5 billion in July. Norwegian surplus improved in August.[/R]

Euro Zone Current Account Surplus Narrows

The euro zone current account surplus narrowed to a seasonally adjusted €9.7 billion in July from €14.3 billion in June, the European Central Bank said.

The merchandise surplus declined to €7.5 billion in July from €12.7 billion in June, while services surplus remained unchanged at €6.2 billion in July.

Separately, the euro zone trade surplus widened to €15.6 billion in July from €13.6 billion in June, Eurostat said today. In July 2011, the trade surplus was €2.1 billion.

Exports fell 2% on a monthly basis in July after rising 2.4% in June. Imports dropped 1.2% in July compared to the 0.7% rise in June.

The extra-EU27 trade in goods showed a surplus of €3.1 billion compared with €10.9 billion shortfall in July 2011.

In a separate report, euro zone labor costs increased 1.6% annually in the second quarter of 2012, following a 1.5% rise in the first quarter, data released by Eurostat showed.

Norwegian Surplus Improves

Norway''s trade surplus increased 15.1% annually to NOK 33.8 billion in August, data from Statistics Norway showed.

The combination of large growth in exports relative to the import growth led to the increased trade surplus. The increased value of the natural gas export was the main reason for the rise in exports, but the higher value of crude oil also contributed.

Exports rose 7.5% from a year ago to NOK 74.8 billion and imports increased 1.9% to NOK 41.1 billion in August.

Italian Swings to Surplus

Italy''s merchandise trade for July resulted in a surplus of €4.5 billion, preliminary data released by statistics office Istat showed.

Overall exports increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% from a month ago in July. Annually, exports climbed 4.3% during the month.

Imports increased 2.9% sequentially in July. Compared to July 2011, imports fell 4.3% in July.

In the January-July period, the trade balance was a surplus of €4.4 billion. Exports increased 4.2% annually, while imports plunged 5.6%, data showed.

German Manufacturing Employment Climbs

German manufacturing sector employment rose from last year in July, data released by the Federal Statistics Office showed today.

The number of employees in manufacturing units with 50 or more employees rose 2.5% or about 129,000 persons on an annual basis to 5.2 million in July.

The number of hours worked in July 2012 increased 4.8% from a year earlier, reaching 660 million, considering that there was one working day more than in July 2011.

Danish Producer Prices Up

Denmark’s producer price index rose 3.2% on an annual basis in August, data released by Statistics Denmark showed.

On a monthly basis, producer prices increased 1.6% in August.

Czech Export Price Inflation Eases

Czech export price inflation eased to 4.7% in July from 5.1% in June, the Czech Statistics Office reported today.

Import prices rose 5.5% in July compared to 6.6% in June.

From a month ago, export prices fell 0.4% in July compared to the 0.8% rise in June. Import prices dropped 0.5% in July from the 0.1% fall in June.