A trade deficit of €58.7 million was recorded in December, according to provisional figures provided by the National Statistics Office.
The NSO said data for registered international trade recorded a trade deficit of €58.7 million, compared to a deficit of €95 million in the same month in 2018.
Both imports and exports experienced increases of €0.9 million and €37.1 million respectively. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€29.3 million) and semi-manufactured goods (€8.3 million).
These were partly outweighed by a decrease of €30 million in machinery and transport equipment. On the exports side, chemicals (€18.7 million), machinery and transport equipment (€15.7 million) and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€14.8 million) accounted for the main increase, partly outweighed by a decrease of €11.4 million in food.
January-December 2019
The trade deficit in the whole of 2019 widened by €868.2 million when compared to 2018, reaching €3,706.7 million. Both imports and exports increased by €1,039.2 million and €171 million respectively.
Higher imports were recorded mainly in machinery and transport equipment (€1,001.5 million) and chemicals (€71 million), partly outweighed by a decrease of €79.3 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.
The main increases in exports were registered in chemicals (€135.2 million), miscellaneous manufactured articles (€100 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€67.7 million). These were partly outweighed by decreases of €68 million and €43.9 million in food and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials respectively.
For 2019, imports from the European Union reached €4,821.5 million, or 65.9% of total imports.
There was a decrease of €312.8 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to 2018.
Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the United Kingdom (€840.2 million) and Italy (€207.9 million). With respect to exports, the main increase was directed to Germany.