Imports and exports declined by €104.3 million and €140.3 million respectively, in October primarily due to reduced trading in mineral fuels, official figures issued today show.

The visible trade gap in October stood at €80.0 million, up by €36.1 million when compared to the corresponding month last year.

January-October 2012

In the first ten months this year, the visible trade gap widened by €417.1 million, to €1,691.9 million. The increase in imports of €1,083.3 million was mainly due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Increases were also registered for food, miscellaneous manufactured articles, beverages and tobacco, and crude materials. The rise in the value of exports of €666.1 million was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Other increases were noted for machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, miscellaneous manufactured articles, and beverages and tobacco.

A substantial amount of Malta's trade flows and consequent trade deficit continued to be directed towards the European Union, as shown in Table 3. Increases were registered in imports from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, while there was a decrease from France. Exports to the European Union went down, mainly to Italy and the United Kingdom. On the other hand increases in exports were recorded for Libya, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Russia, Spain and Belgium.