Trade deficit widens to $62.3 billion in February

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened unexpectedly in February as imports of consumer and other goods set a record and grew faster than exports, which hit a record for the 12th consecutive month, a U.S. government report showed on Thursday.

The monthly deficit widened 5.7 percent to $62.3 billion, from an upwardly revised estimate of $59.0 billion for January. Wall Street analysts had expected the gap to narrow to $57.5 billion.

Despite slow U.S. economic growth that has spawned fears of a recession, imports of goods and services rose 3.1 percent to $213.7 billion, the Commerce Department report showed.

In a broad-based sign of renewed U.S. demand, records were also set in individual categories for consumer goods, capital goods, industrial supplies and materials and food, feed and beverages.

Meanwhile, U.S. petroleum imports declined in February to $37.7 billion after 11 consecutive monthly increases.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer, Editing by Andrea Ricci)