European Exports Increase for Second Month in Face of Strengthening Euro
European exports increased for a second month in September, indicating euro-region companies withstood the impact of a strengthening single currency on their foreign sales.
Exports from the economy of the 16 nations that use the euro rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent from August, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Imports fell 2.5 percent and there was a trade surplus of 2.4 billion euros ($3.3 billion) after a trade gap of 1.7 billion euros the previous month.
Exporters may struggle to maintain sales growth as a strengthening euro makes European goods more expensive, just as austerity measures to rein in budget deficits undermine growth at home. The currency has risen about 14 percent from a four- year low in June and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said last week that the appreciation is hurting French companies.
“With volatile currencies, it’s the euro that has been appreciating; it’s the euro that’s expensive,” Lagarde said on Nov. 10. “It means that French companies are in a difficult situation. It means the French economy faces difficulty.”
The euro rose 2.3 percent last month after a 7.5 percent surge in September, its biggest monthly jump since December 2008. The currency was at $1.3638 shortly before the data were published, compared with $1.3691 on Nov. 12.
Largest Market
Euro-area exports to the U.S. rose 16 percent in the eight months through August from the same period a year earlier, today’s report showed. Shipments to the U.K., the euro area’s largest market, increased 11 percent, while sales to China surged 40 percent. Detailed data are published with a one-month lag.
Euro-area economic growth slowed to 0.4 percent in the third quarter from 1 percent in the previous three months, the statistics office said on Nov. 12. The European Central Bank said a day earlier that recent economic data “are consistent with our assessment that the underlying momentum of the recovery remains positive.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Ross-Thomas in Madrid at erossthomas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Fraher at jfraher@bloomberg.net
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