The trade deficit widened by €403.4 million when compared to 2017, reaching €2,858.5 million.
Both imports and exports show decreases of €5.4 million and €408.7 million respectively, the National Statistics Office said on Monday.
Lower imports were mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, which decreased by €280.5 million. This was partly outweighed by increases of €126.6 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, €67.2 million in chemicals, €41.7 million in semi-manufactured goods and €32.1 million in miscellaneous manufactured articles.
On the exports side, the main decrease was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€427.2 million).
Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €4,025.7 million, or 65.8 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €642 million in imports from eurozone countries when compared to the same period of 2017. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Italy (€161.8 million) and Canada (€171.9 million) respectively. On the exports side, the main increase was directed to the Netherlands (€50.1 million), whereas Egypt (€84.6 million) registered
the highest decrease.