Be the first to comment!Trade deficit down by €292.6 million on last year to €28.4 million – NSO
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Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade deficit of €28.4 million in October 2015, compared to €321.0 million in the corresponding month of 2014.
The National Statistics Office said today that this was down by €292.6 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2014. A decrease of €283.8 million was recorded for imports, while exports increased by €8.8 million.
The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€153.3 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€85.7 million). Other decreases were recorded for all other commodity groups except for crude materials.
Regarding exports, food accounted for the main increase (€17.7 million), with mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, semi-manufactured goods, beverages and tobacco, and miscellaneous manufactured articles also registering increases.
During the first ten months, the trade deficit narrowed by €90.0 million, to €2,095.5 million when compared to the corresponding period last year. Both imports and exports decreased by €261.6 million and €171.6 million respectively.
Lower imports were mainly due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which decreased by €765.7 million. This was partly outweighed by an increase of €458.5 million in machinery and transport equipment.
The decrease in the value of exports was triggered by lower mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€183.8 million), and machinery and transport equipment (€39.7 million).
Malta's trade imports from the European Union reached €2,973.9 million, or 57.9 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €241.0 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period last year.
Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the Netherlands (€188.5 million) and the United States of America (€277.9 million) respectively. On the export side the main increase was directed to France (€38.8 million), whereas Italy (€42.3 million) registered the highest decrease.
