Trade deficit down by €8.7 million in January

Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in January stood at €99.6 million, down by €8.7 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2014. Both imports and exports registered decreases of €67.6 million and €58.9 million respectively.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€46.8 million). Other decreases were recorded for semi-manufactured goods, food, machinery and transport equipment, miscellaneous manufactured articles, chemicals, and beverages and tobacco.

Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease in exports (€40.6 million). Other decreases were recorded for all commodity groups except for miscellaneous manufactured articles.

During January, imports from the European Union reached €186.2 million, or 48.0 per cent of total imports. There was a drop of €10.0 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to January 2014.

Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Turkey (€24.6 million) and the United Kingdom (€12.6 million) respectively. On the export side the main increase was directed to Egypt (€47.8 million), with the United States of America (€35.9 million) registering the highest decrease