Preliminary figures show that the visible trade gap narrowed by €20.9 million in January when compared to the corresponding month last year.

Provisional data for international trade released by the National Statistics Office today show that the visible trade gap in January stood at €106.5 million, down by €20.9 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2012.

There were decreases in imports and exports of €70.6 million and €49.7 million respectively. The decrease in imports was mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, with other decreases being registered for mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, food, chemicals, semi-manufactured goods, and crude materials. Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease in exports when compared to the corresponding month last year.

Other decreases were registered in miscellaneous manufactured articles, machinery and transport equipment, semi-manufactured goods, and miscellaneous transactions and commodities.

During January, imports from the European Union accounted for 45.9 per cent of total imports. Increases were registered in imports from France and Germany, while decreases were recorded from Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and Belgium. Exports to the euro area show a decrease, mainly to Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and France, with other decreases being recorded for Turkey, the Republic of Korea, Libya, and Switzerland.

On the other hand there were increases in exports to Singapore, Japan, the United States of America, India, the United Kingdom, and China.

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