The European area international trade in goods balance with the rest of the world in August showed a 12.6 billion euro deficit, compared with a deficit of 22.1 billion in August 2011, according to figures released today by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The EU deficit for energy increased to 239.7 bn euro in January-July 2012 compared with a deficit of 220.0 bn in January-July 2011 EU exports to most of its major partners grew in January-July 2012 compared with January-July 2011, except with India (-5%) and Turkey (-1%). The most notable increases were recorded for exports to South Korea (+19%), Russia (+18%) and Japan (+17%). As regards EU imports the largest increases were recorded for imports from the USA (+11%) and Norway (+10%), and the largest falls with India (-9%) and Japan (-5%). Meanwhile, Eurostat reported that EU annual inflation was 2.7% in September, unchanged compared with August. A year earlier the rate was 3.3%.