Malta’s trade deficit at €84.2m during October 2020, down from a €311m deficit in October 2019

Provisional figures for registered trade in Malta recorded a trade deficit of €84.2 million during October 2020, compared to a deficit of €311.1 million in the corresponding month of 2019.

International Trade in Goods: October 2020

Data in the National Statistics Office’s latest release presents all international trade in goods registered up to a cut-off date of 1st December, with both imports and exports registering a decrease of €308.6 million and €81.7 million, respectively, when compared to the same month last year.

The major decreases in the value of imports were recorded for machinery and transport equipment (€157.6 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€64.1 million).

On the exports side, the main decrease was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€49.2 million).

January-October 2020

During the first ten months of this year, the trade deficit narrowed by €1,529.1 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2019, reaching €1,974.0 million.

Both imports and exports decreased by €1,993.5 million and €464.4 million, respectively.

Lower imports were mainly recorded in machinery and transport equipment (€1,296.4 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€512.7 million).

On the exports side, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€339.0 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€100.1 million) accounted for the main decreases.

Imports from the European Union reached €2,321.3 million, or 51.9 per cent of total imports.

There was a decrease of €438.9 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period in 2019.

Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from China (€108.2 million) and the United Kingdom (€986.6 million), respectively.

With respect to exports, the main increase was directed to Hong Kong (€13.3 million), whereas Italy registered the highest decrease (€139.0 million).