The Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses today took exception to the statement issued yesterday by the Nationalist Party under the title ‘A Staggering 29% Drop in Exports’.
Such statistics should be analysed in a wider context and not restricted to one specific month, the ministry said in a statement. Between December 2016 and October 2017, it was only on two occasions—July 2017 and October 2017—that the manufacturing sector registered marginal declines of -0.8% and -1.2% respectively, when compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. In contrast, in all other months, the manufacturing sector registered increases, with the highest being recorded in February 2017 (+8.2%), January 2017 (+7.7%), and August 2017 (+6.9%).
One must also note that numbers are reported in monetary figures, thus dependent on the pricing of goods. The volume of exports has remained stable year on year reflecting competitiveness in global market performances of each sector.
A number of important products produced by the manufacturing sector have been recording notable growth in their export value. When comparing January-November 2017 with the corresponding period in 2016, one finds that exports of electrical machinery recorded an increase equivalent to €30.1 million (+4.9%). Other products, such as plastics and articles of plastics, increased by €13.6m (+27.0%), with articles of iron and steel also increasing by €12.6m (+58.0%). One should also note that other products such as machinery and mechanical appliances, rubber and article of plastics, cereals, knitted clothing, footwear, gaiters, etc, also recorded increases.
In addition, employment in the manufacturing sector over the last year has remained stable. The latest Gainfully Occupied Population published by the NSO for the month of April 2017 shows that during this month there were 20,889 full-time employees in this sector. This represents a marginal increase of 42 full-time employees.
Moreover, GDP statistics show that the General Value Added (GVA) generated by the manufacturing sector during the first three quarters of 2017 when compared to the same period in 2016 increased by more than 8%, the ministry said.