The data backs recent comments from EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia that the strength of the euro against the dollar and the yen has so far had little impact on the external trade of the currency bloc's 13 countries.
The euro hit all-time highs against the dollar at the end of last month and set new peaks against the Japanese yen.
The European Union's statistics office said that according to seasonally unadjusted data, exports grew by seven percent year-on-year in March after a 10% increase in February. Imports in the two months grew by one and seven percent respectively.
Seasonally adjusted, the trade balance improved to a surplus of 5.1 billion euros in March from 0.5 billion in February with exports rising 1.2% month-on-month and imports falling 2.6% from February to March.
More detailed data for March was not yet available, but numbers for the first two months of the year showed the deficit in trade in energy widened to almost 42 billion euros in the January-February period from 36 billion a year earlier.
The trade balance for manufactured goods, meanwhile, remained at a steady surplus of 30 billion euros. (Reuters)
