The euro zone plunged into a trade deficit in March, suggesting a strong euro was taking its toll on exports, the European Union (EU)'s statistics bureau Eurostat estimated on Friday.

In March, the 15-nation bloc sharing the same currency euro posted a trade deficit of 2.3 billion euros (3.6 billion U.S. dollars), compared with a surplus of 800 million euros in February and a surplus of 7.5 billion euros in the same period of 2007.

Analysts said the deficit, the second time in the first three months of this year, may signal the euro's strength was weighing on exports and boosting imports.

In January, the euro zone registered a trade deficit of 10.7 billion euros, a record since the introduction of the euro in 1999.

Figures showed that in March, euro zone exports dropped by 1.0 percent over one year to 129.4 billion euros, while imports rose 7.0 percent to 131.6 billion euros.

For the 27-nation EU, external trade balance showed a deficit of 20.5 billion euros in March, up from a deficit of 15.6 billion euros in February and a deficit of 10.5 billion euros in March 2007.