Malta had a trade surplus of €157.3 million in April 2018, compared to a trade deficit of €222.1 million in the corresponding month of 2017, figures issued on Monday show.

The surplus was due to an increase in exports in the ships, boats and floating structures commodity group.

Imports decreased by €56.5 million, while exports grew by €322.9 million. The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment(€70.5 million), with the same commodity group (€352.9 million) accounting for the main increase in exports.

January-April 2018
During the first four months this year, the trade deficit narrowed by €371.2 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2017, reaching €458.8 million. Imports showed a decrease of €111.4 million, while exports increased by €259.8 million.

Lower imports were mainly due to a decrease of €125.3 million in machinery and transport equipment. With regard to exports, the main increase was also registered in machinery and transport equipment (€358.4 million), which
was partly outweighed by a decrease of Є165.7 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €1,235.3 million, or 67.5 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €173.6 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period of 2017. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.