Provisional data for registered international trade recorded a trade deficit of €331.3 million during September 2019, compared to a deficit of €172.3 million in the corresponding month of 2018, according to a National Statistics Office (NSO) press release issued on Monday.
Both imports and exports experienced increases of €172.4 million and €13.3 million respectively. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€93.2 million), mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€51.8 million) and chemicals (€33.1 million). On the exports side, chemicals (€11.6 million) accounted for the main increase.
January-September 2019
During the first nine months of the year, the trade deficit widened by €848.4 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2018, reaching €3,140.5 million. Both imports and exports increased by €959.4 million and €110.9 million respectively.
Higher imports were recorded mainly in machinery and transport equipment (€947.9 million). The main increases in exports were registered in miscellaneous manufactured articles (€56.7 million), chemicals (€52.9 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€41.3 million), partly outweighed by a decrease of €28.4 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.
For the same reference period, imports from the European Union reached €3,856.7 million, or 67.6 per cent of total imports. There was a decrease of €378.3 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period in 2018. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the United Kingdom (€855.4 million) and Italy (€257.5 million) respectively. With respect to exports, the main increase was directed to Spain (€30.6 million), whereas Libya (€90.6 million) registered the highest decrease.
