Trade data highlight UK export challenge Britain's trade deficit widened more than economists expected in February after exports to countries outside Europe fell, raising fears that net trade has been a drag on economic growth in the first quarter. Though the monthly trade figures are notoriously volatile and subject to revision, February's data underline the difficult task facing Prime Minister David Cameron as he tours Asia this week in an effort to boost Britain's exports to emerging markets. The overall trade deficit widened from a revised £2.5bn in January to £3.4bn in February, according to the Office for National Statistics. While the trade in services deficit was unchanged, the trade in goods deficit increased from £7.9bn to £8.8bn. After stripping out seasonal effects, inflation and oil and other erratic items, exports dropped 5.3 per cent while imports fell 0.9 per cent. Vicky Redwood, an economist at Capital Economics, said the figures were "pretty disappointing." Barring a sharp narrowing in March, she said, the deficit in the first quarter as a whole would be about £2bn bigger than in the fourth quarter of last year. Accordingly, it looks like net trade will have been a drag on gross domestic product growth in the first quarter. Britain's exports to Europe have been weakening as the eurozone, its biggest trading partner, flirts with recession. February's data showed goods export volumes to the European Union fell 2.4 per cent but this was outstripped by a 8.2 per cent decline in exports to countries outside the EU. The ONS said this was driven by lower car exports to Russia, the US and China along with lower exports of capital and intermediate goods. Imports from EU countries fell, meanwhile, but imports from the rest of the world rose, including an extra £200m of art imports "such as paintings and sculptures from the US and Switzerland," the ONS said. Export prices rose 1.5 per cent and import prices rose 0.7 per cent, driven by oil prices. Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers" organisation, said the drop in exports to non-EU countries "contrasts with the underlying trend of strong growth to these markets over the past two years." She added: "There is a growing confidence among UK manufacturers that they can secure growth in emerging markets, but the figures remind of the challenges we face in meeting the government's ambitious target to double our UK exports in the face of continuing uncertainty in global markets."