Malta sees 20% decrease in exports between January-October 2013

Malta experienced a 20% decrease in exports between January and October 2013, when compared with the same period in 2012.

Exports fell from €2.7 billion to €2.2 billion, while over the same period imports also decreased from €4.4 billion to €3.8 billion, or by 14%.

Malta's trade imbalance for the same period fell from €1.7 billion to €1.6 billion, due to a greater fall in imports, in absolute terms.

The first estimate for the euro area (EA17) trade in goods balance with the rest of the world in November 2013 gave a €17.1 billion surplus, compared with €12.5bn in November 2012.

The EU28 deficit for energy decreased (-321.3 bn euro in January-October 2013 compared with -351.6 bn in January-October 2012), while the surplus for manufactured goods increased (+322.1 bn compared with +287.0 bn).

EU28 imports from most of its major partners fell in January-October 2013 compared with January-October 2012, except for Turkey (+3%) and India (0%). The most notable decreases were recorded for imports from Japan and Brazil (both -14%), Switzerland (-13%) and Norway (-12%). The pattern was mixed for EU28 exports, with the largest increases registered for exports to Switzerland (+31%), South Korea and Turkey (both +4%) and the most notable falls for exports to India (-6%), the USA and Japan (both -3%).

The EU28 trade surplus increased significantly with Switzerland (+66.5 bn euro in January-October 2013 compared with +20.7 bn in January-October 2012) and more moderately with the USA (+77.1 bn compared with +72.9 bn), Turkey (+23.7 bn compared with +22.6 bn) and Brazil (+6.4 bn compared with +1.1 bn). The EU28 trade deficit fell with China (-110.6 bn compared with -124.1 bn), Russia (-72.1 bn compared with -76.1 bn), Norway (-32.8 bn compared with -43.5 bn) and Japan (-2.1 bn compared with -8.2 bn).

Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+166.3 bn euro in January-October 2013), followed by the Netherlands (+45.5 bn), Ireland (+31.3 bn), Italy (+23.7 bn), Belgium and the Czech Republic (both +11.9 bn). The United Kingdom (-66.5 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-63.5 bn), Greece (-16.2 bn) and Spain (-12.8 bn).