BERLIN: Germany's trade surplus shrank nine percent in February from the January level, allowing for seasonal blips, the federal statistics office Destatis said on Wednesday.

The surplus dip for Europe's biggest economy -- to 15.7 billion euros ($21.6 billion) from 17.3 billion the month before -- was the result of higher imports of 77.6 billion euros against slightly lower exports of 93.3 billion euros.

The German trade surplus underpins the eurozone's external accounts and is an important factor in what French Prime Minister Manuel Valls criticised on Tuesday as the undue strength of the euro which he said was penalising exporters.