February drop in both imports and exports

Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in February stood at €127.7 million, down by €438.4 million when compared to the corresponding month of 2016.

According to data by the National Statistics Office, both imports and exports decreased by €450.3 million and €11.9 million respectively.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€391.6 million), while on the exports side, machinery and transport equipment (€4.8 million) and chemicals (€4.6 million) accounted for the main decrease.

During the first two months this year, the trade deficit narrowed by €222.2 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2016, reaching €504.5 million.

Imports show a decrease of €205.7 million while exports increased by €16.5 million. Lower imports were mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, which decreased by €310.3 million. This was partly outweighed by an increase of €150.2 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.

On the exports side, the main increase was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€38.0 million), partly outweighed by decreases in machinery and transport equipment (€10.6 million) and chemicals (€6.6 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €443.8 million, or 47.0 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €2.5 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period of 2016. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the Russian Federation (€42.3 million) and Germany (€19.5 million) respectively.

On the export side, the main increase was directed to the United States of America (€8.0 million), whereas Germany (€14.9 million) registered the highest decrease.