Provisional data for international trade show that the visible trade gap in January 2008 stood at e95.1 million, up by e15.9 million when compared to the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said.

There was an increase in both imports and exports of €27.1 million and €11.2 million respectively. The increase in imports was mainly due to mineral fuels and lubricants, food, chemicals and miscellaneous transactions and commodities. Food, chemicals, miscellaneous transactions and commodities and mineral fuels and lubricants accounted for the major increase in exports during January 2008 when compared to the same month in 2007.

An analysis of the total trade balance by commodity group indicates that the deterioration in the balance for January 2008 when compared to the same month of the previous year was mainly due to mineral fuels and lubricants, food and miscellaneous manufactured articles.

The bulk of Malta’s trade flows and consequent trade deficit continued to be directed towards the European Union during the first month of 2008.