Malta registered a trade deficit of €149.5 million in September 2015, compared to €280.4 million in the corresponding month of 2014, the NSO said today.

Decreases were recorded for imports and exports, by €172.8 million and €41.9 million respectively.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€140.3 million).

Imports for all other commodity groups went down except semi-manufactured goods, beverages and tobacco, and animal and vegetable oils and fats.

Regarding exports, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease (€25.7 million), with machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food, crude materials, and semi-manufactured goods also registering decreases.

January-September 2015

During the first nine months, the trade deficit widened by €184.7 million, to €2,049.2 million when compared to the corresponding period last year. Imports and exports decreased by €2.5 million and €187.1 million respectively.

Lower imports were mainly due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which decreased by €679.4 million. This was partly outweighed by an increase in machinery and transport equipment of €604.0 million. The decrease in the value of exports was triggered by lower mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€192.7 million), and machinery and transport equipment (€33.1 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €2,722.7 million, or 57.5 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €308.2 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period last year. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the Netherlands (€192.0 million) and the United States of America (€288.1 million) respectively.

On the export side the main increase was directed to France (€30.7 million), whereas Libya (€79.2 million) registered the highest decrease.