Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade deficit of €241.6 million in June 2016, compared to €279.6 million in the corresponding month of 2015, the NSO said today.
Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in June stood at €241.6 million, down by €38.0 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2015. Both imports and exports decreased by €43.9 million and €5.8 million respectively.
The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€92.6 million), which was partly outweighed by an increase of €75.5 million in machinery and transport equipment. On the exports side mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€70.8 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€23.7 million) accounted for the main decrease. This was partly outweighed by an increase of €94.9 million in chemicals.
January-June 2016
During the first six months this year, the trade deficit widened by €136.9 million when compared to the corresponding period last year. Imports show an increase of €54.6 million, with exports decreasing by €82.3 million. Higher imports were mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, which increased by €308.3 million. This was partly outweighed by a decrease of €214.2 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. The decrease in the value of exports was mainly triggered by lower mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€279.1 million), machinery and transport equipment (€48.8 million) and miscellaneous manufactured articles (€41.1 million). This was partly outweighed by an increase of €303.1 million in chemicals.
Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €1,428.5 million, or 42.3 per cent of total imports. There was a decrease of €350.0 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 Caribbean and Bahamas Islands (€555.7 million) and the Netherlands (€226.6 million) respectively. On the export side the main increase was directed to the United States of America (€327.4 million), whereas Hong Kong (€56.3 million) registered the highest decrease.