Exports down by €140.3 million

Provisional data for international trade show that the visible trade gap in October stood at €80.0 million, up by €36.1 million when compared to the corresponding month last year.

The National Statistics Office reported that there were decreases in imports and exports of €104.3 million and €140.3 million respectively.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, with other declines registered for machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, and animal and vegetable oils and fats.

Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease in the value of exports when compared to the corresponding month in 2011.

Other drops were registered for machinery and transport equipment, miscellaneous manufactured articles, food, crude materials, and semi- manufactured goods.

In the first ten months of this year, the visible trade gap widened by €417.1 million, to €1,691.9 million.

The increase in imports of €1,083.3 million was mainly due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Increases were also registered for food, miscellaneous manufactured articles, beverages and tobacco, and crude materials.

The rise in the value of exports of €666.1 million was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.

Other increases were noted for machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, miscellaneous manufactured articles, and beverages and tobacco, as shown in Table 2.

A substantial amount of Malta's trade flows and consequent trade deficit continued to be directed towards the European Union.

Increases were registered in imports from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, while there was a decrease from France. Exports to the European Union went down, mainly to Italy and the United Kingdom. On the other hand increases in exports were recorded for Libya, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Russia, Spain and Belgium.