Lack of trade data from fuel traders led to incorrect exports figure

An investigation by the National Statistics Office has found that the main traders declaring fuel exports this year did not always report their exports electronically for previous years, which resulted in substantially higher oil exports than ever before.

The news – carried as a footnote to a press release on the balance of payments – has shed light on an inexplicable statistic first revealed by the Economist Intelligence Unit, that questioned how Malta’s 54% increase in exports could have been bolstered by the extraordinary €458 million in oil exports in the first eight months of 2011.

The EIU even questioned the export figure, because it was attributable to oil exports from Malta. “It is unusual that Malta, which is not an oil producer, exported more oil than it imported by almost €80 million in the first half. Data for previous years do not suggest that there had been an accumulation of oil stocks in the previous years,” the EIU said.

The NSO explained further that not even oil imports were recorded electronically by traders this year, and were also not fully captured for previous years: the figures are submitted administratively by the traders themselves, which means the provisional data is so far not necessarily the real figure.

Consequently, uncaptured data is now being inserted by NSO in the Intrastat system, that records trade with EU countries, and in the Customs Electronic System which records trade with non-EU countries. The latter date is processed by the Customs Department each month.

Traders are legally responsibiled to show the total value of exports to customers in other member states and the total value of imports of goods from suppliers in other member states, and they are also required to provide a supplementary declaration each month, showing full details of their dispatches and arrivals during the month.

The NSO said that late declarations on fuel are still occurring and may result in other future revisions, which at present NSO is not in a position to corroborate.

As a result, imports and exports of fuels are substantially higher than previously reported. The NSO is now engaged in discussions with the Customs Department, and the situation is still being closely monitored, the office said.

A closer look at imports and exports of fuels (see table) explains why the EIU was so confused with the assertion that Maltese exports had risen by 54% - in August 2011 exports climbed up to €458 million, over €436 million in imports.

The latest September data shows fuel exports at €684 million, and fuel imports at €971 million.

Latest data puts the visible trade gap at €1,280.7 million. The increase in imports of €412.6 million was due to fuels and lubricants, industrial supplies, capital goods, and consumer goods. The rise in exports of €219.8 million was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.