A trade deficit of €749.7 million was recorded in March according to provisional figures published by the Malta Statistics Office.

The NSO said the deficit in March, 2018 was of €219.9 million.

Imports experienced an increase of €524.2 million, while exports decreased by €5.5 million. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€483.1 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€39.8 million).

On the exports side, machinery and transport equipment (€11.6 million), chemicals (€8.2 million) and semi-manufactures goods (€7.4 million) accounted to the main decrease. This was partly outweighed by increases in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€14.6 million) and miscellaneous manufactured articles (€8 million).

January-March 2019

During the first quarter, the trade deficit widened by €640.2 million when compared to the same period in 2018, reaching €1,278.5 million. Imports and exports increased by €649.3 million and €9 million respectively.

Higher imports were mainly recorded in machinery and transport equipment (€726.1 million), partly outweighed by a decrease of €105.9 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. The main increase in exports was registered in miscellaneous manufactured articles (€37.4 million), partly outweighed by decreases in machinery and transport equipment (€22.3 million) and semi-manufactured goods (€7.9 million).

Imports from the European Union reached €1,451.7 million, or 70.1% of total imports. There was a decrease of €120.2 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period in 2018. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the United Kingdom (€579.8 million) and Spain (€36.1 million) respectively.

With respect to exports, the main increase was directed to the United States of America (€16.5 million), whereas Italy (€30.1 million) registered the highest decrease.