Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade deficit of €239.7 million in October 2017, compared to €274.1 million in the corresponding month of 2016, the NSO said today.

International Trade: October 2017

Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in October stood at €239.7 million, down by €34.4 million when compared to the corresponding month of 2016. Imports decreased by €4.7 million, while exports show an increase of €29.7 million. The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€60.5 million), which was partly outweighed by an increase of €39.1 million in machinery and transport equipment.

Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€31.1 million) accounted to the main increase in the value of exports.

January-October 2017

During the first ten months this year, the trade deficit widened by €333.7 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2016, reaching €2,839.1 million. Both imports and exports show decreases of €530.1 million and €863.8 million respectively. Lower imports were mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, which decreased by €719.7 million. This was partly outweighed by an increase of €117.9 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials . On the exports side, the main decreases were registered in chemicals (€591.4 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€298.1 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €2,713.3 million, or 53.1 per cent of total imports. There was a decrease of €32.2 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period of 2016. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the Russian Federation (€97.2 million) and Canada (€391.2 million) respectively. On the export side, the main increase was directed to Libya (€17.2 million), whereas the United States of America (€599.9 million) registered the highest decrease.