British goods trade deficit narrows in November

Britain's trade deficit in goods narrowed to 9.2 billion pounds (about 14.7 billion U.S. dollars) in November, 300 million pounds less than the previous month, official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Wednesday. Britain's exports increased by 2.9 percent to 24.8 billion pounds in November while imports rose by 1.1 percent to 34 billion pounds, the ONS said. "The deficit on trade in goods continues to be partially offset by an estimated surplus on trade in services," said the ONS. In the three-month period ending in November, deficit in goods trade stood at 27.1 billion pounds, largely unchanged from the 27 billion pounds in the same period of the previous year. The European Union remained the biggest market for Britain with exports to the bloc rising by 8.9 percent to 13.2 billion pounds and imports ring by 4.3 percent to 17.8 billion pounds. China was placed the seventh in exports from Britain with trade dropping to 835 million pounds in November, and the third in imports which amounted to 2.5 billion pounds, up by 5 million pounds.