The 12-member euro zone recorded a 3.1-billion-euro surplus in November 2006 compared with a deficit of 2.0 billion euros in November 2005, Eurostat estimated on Wednesday.

The October 2006 balance was a surplus of 3.0 billion euros, compared with a surplus of 0.1 billion in October 2005.

The statistical service of the European Union (EU) said in November 2006 compared with October 2006, exports, seasonally adjusted, rose by 1.7 percent while imports fell by 0.1 percent.

In November, the EU trade with the rest of the world registered a deficit of 12.4 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 14.7 billion euros in November 2005.

In October 2006, the balance was a deficit of 12.9 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 11.0 billion euros in October 2005.

In November 2006 compared with October 2006, exports, seasonally adjusted, rose by 2.0 percent while imports fell by 0.1 percent.

In the first 10 months of 2006, EU energy deficit grew strongly to 236.9 billion euros from 180.6 billion in the previous year.

Its surpluses rose in the chemicals sector and for machinery and vehicles.

In the first 10 months compared with the same period in the previous year, EU trade flows with its major partners grew. The most notable increases were for exports to Russia (26 percent), China (23 percent), Canada (14 percent), Norway and Turkey (both 13 percent).

In this period, EU imports from Russia grew by 29 percent, Norway 24 percent, China 21 percent and India 19 percent.

In the same period, the EU expanded its trade surplus with the United States from 72.8 billion to 75.7 billion euros while its deficits grew with China, Russia, Norway, Japan and South Korea.

Concerning the total trade of member states, the largest surplus was observed in Germany in the first 10 months of 2006 (132.6 billion euros), followed by the Netherlands (29.1 billion), Ireland (28.0 billion) and Sweden (13.9 billion).

Britain registered the largest deficit of 105.7 billion euros, followed by Spain (72.5 billion), France (28.6 billion), Greece (28.4 billion) and Italy (19.6 billion).

Source: Xinhua