The Eurozone's external trade balance for May, released by Eurostat, swung to a deficit of 7.8 billion euros, a sharp deterioration from a surplus of 15 billion euros in the same month a year earlier. The European Union as a whole also recorded a deficit of 12.1 billion euros, reversing from a surplus of 12.7 billion euros a year ago. Eurozone exports rose 0.1 percent year-on-year to 243.6 billion euros, while imports increased 10.0 percent to 251.4 billion euros, with a widening energy deficit and shrinking surpluses in machinery, vehicles, and chemicals weighing on the overall balance. For the January to May period, the Eurozone's cumulative external trade surplus narrowed sharply to 3.3 billion euros, down from 78.7 billion euros in the same period last year.