Exports increased by 4% and imports shrink 1.4% in the first … – Express

Exports grew 4% and imports decreased by 1.4% in the first quarter of the year over the same period. In the quarter ended in February, exports of goods had grown 1.7% and imports retreated 4%, on year.

According the National Statistics Institute (INE), in late March, the deficit of the Portuguese trade balance retreated 661.3 million euros, to 1.9687 billion euros, and the coverage rate increased 4.4 percentage points to 86 1%.

Analyzing only the month of March, exports of goods increased 10.9% and imports of goods increased 10.1% from the same month.

In terms of monthly annual changes, in March exports and imports rose due to the evolution of the intra-European Union trade (EU), especially in exports in the categories of others products, machinery, metal and mineral fuels, and imports by the impulse of vehicles and other transport equipment, chemicals and machinery.

Excluding fuel and lubricants, in March 2015 exports increased by 8.4% and imports increased 9.2% from the same month. Already with regard to changes from the previous month, in March exports increased by 10.2% as a result of developments in intra-Community and extra-Community trade, with main emphasis on minerals and ores and machinery. With regard to imports, there was an increase of 17.1%, primarily as a result of the evolution of intra-EU trade, especially due to chemicals, vehicles and other transport equipment and agricultural products.

With regard to intra-Community trade in the first quarter, the INE data show an increase of 5.2% in exports and 2.2% of imports over the same period, corresponding to a coverage rate of 80.9% and a deficit of 2.1096 billion euros. Compared to the previous month, the intra-EU exports increased by 7.3% in March and intra-EU imports increased 15.9%.

Already in the extra-Community trade in the first quarter of the year, exports increased by 0.8% and imports fell 12.4% year on year, resulting in a surplus of 140.9 million euros, a 104.5% coverage rate. Excluding fuels and lubricants, Extra-EU exports decreased by 0.1% and imports increased 0.2%, with a trade surplus of 981.4 million euros, corresponding to a coverage rate of 152.5%.

In March over the same month, exports to third countries increased by 11% and imports increased 15.8%. With regard to the previous month, in March 2015, extra-EU exports increased by 21.7%, and this evolution in extra-imports of mineral fuels result primarily from the increase in volume, since the import price crude oil remained still below the prices recorded in 2010.

Analyzed by broad economic categories in the first quarter of the year over the same period, stand out in exports the increases in fuels and lubricants (+ 8.9%), in the machinery, capital goods and other clothing accessories (+ 7.3%) and transport equipment and accessories (+ 6.2%). In imports, it highlights the reduction of 30.1% in fuels and lubricants, particularly in primary products, with imports of transport equipment and accessories category which recorded the largest increase (+19.2%).