Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade deficit of €118.0 million in December 2017, compared to €125.9 million in the corresponding month of 2016, the NSO said.

International Trade: December 2017

Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in December stood at €118.0 million, down by €7.9 million when compared to the corresponding month of 2016. Both imports and exports increased by €59.9 million and €67.9 million respectively. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€59.2 million), while mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€39.2 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€21.3 million) accounted to the main increase in the value of exports.

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January-December 2017

During 2017, the trade deficit widened by €236.4 million when compared to 2016, reaching €2,723.7 million. Both imports and exports show decreases of €483.4 million and €719.8 million respectively. Lower imports were mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, which decreased by €631.3 million. This was partly outweighed by increases of €71.2 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, €49.2 million in chemicals, and €42.7 million in food. On the exports side, the main decreases were registered in chemicals (€581.9 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€152.8 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €3,174.4 million, or 53.5 per cent of total imports. There was a decrease of €58.1 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 (€96.2 million) and Canada (€342.4 million) respectively. On the export side, the main increase was directed to Italy (€44.7 million), whereas the United States of America (€612.3 million) registered the highest decrease.