Eurozone posts surprise trade deficit, industrial production subdued

(Sharecast News) - Industrial production across the eurozone increased less than expected in April, according to figures from Eurostat on Monday, while the region recorded a surprise trade deficit as import growth outpaced exports.

Industrial output rose for the third straight month, but grew by just 0.1% in April following a revised 0.4% gain in March. This was behind the consensus forecast for an increase of 0.3%.

Intermediate goods production rose by 0.8%, while gains were also seen in durable consumer goods (+1.0%) and non-durable consumer goods (+1.7%), which were nearly completely offset by a 0.4% fall in energy production and 0.5% drop in capital goods production.

Eurostat also reported the single-currency region saw a trade deficit of €1.0bn for April, down from a surplus of €4.9bn in March, and well below the increase to +€7.8bn expected by economists.

Exports from the eurozone to the rest of the world totalled €255.4bn, up 5.0% year-on-year, while imports jumped 9.3% over the year to €256.4bn.

This was just the second monthly deficit registered for the eurozone over the past year (January saw a deficit of €2.4bn) and only the third since the first quarter of 2023.