BRUSSELS, Dec. 20(Xinhuanet)-- The euro-zone trade balance with the rest of the world reached zero in October 2005, against a 4.9-billion-euro(5.9-billion-US-dollar) surplus a year ago, estimated Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union(EU).

In October 2005, exports in the 12-nation eurozone, seasonally adjusted, fell by 2.3 percent, while imports increased by 0.9 percent compared with September 2005, it said in a press release on Tuesday.

Trade of the 25 members of the EU with the outside world-- excluding trade within the bloc-- registered an 11-billion-euro(13.2-billion-dollar) deficit in October 2005, compared with a deficit of 7 billion euros(8.4 billion dollars) in October 2004.

In October 2005, EU exports, seasonally adjusted, fell by 2.7 percent compared to the previous month while imports increased by 0.6 percent, said Eurostat.

For the 25 members of the EU, the energy deficit grew strongly(157.2 billion euros, or 188.6 billion dollars) from January-September 2005 compared with 105.2 billion euros(126.2 billion dollars) from January-September 2004, while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose by 77.7 billion euros(93.2 billion dollars) compared with 60.5 billion euros(72.6 billion dollars).

The EU's trade flows with its major partners grew, with Japan as the only exception. The most notable increases were for exports to India, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland and Norway. Imports from Russia, China, Norway and India increased significantly.

The EU's trade surplus with the United States and Switzerland increased in the first nine months of 2005. Its trade deficit widened with China, Russia and Norway, but fell with Japan.

Concerning the total trade of member states, the largest surplus was observed in Germany(123.9 billion euros(148.7 billion dollars) in January-September 2005), followed by the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden.

Britain registered the largest deficit of 73.7 billion euros(88.4 billion dollars), followed by Spain, Greece and France. Enditem