The figures were revealed by the INE on Thursday.

 

Exports of goods in the first half of 2018 rose 6.6%. However, the volume of imports was higher in the first six months of the year, reaching 8.8%, the National Institute of Statistics revealed today. Still, the purchase of goods abroad slowed compared to the same period last year, when the increase had been 14.3%. The same happened with exports, which in the first half of 2017 had grown by 12.2%.

 

However, it was last June, in a year-on-year comparison, that the difference between purchases and sales of goods was more significant. Imports rose 18.1% in the sixth month of the calendar due to the "significant increase" in the purchase of fuels and lubricants to countries outside the European Union, according to INE. In the same month, exports of goods increased 8.6% over the same period last year. Discounting the effect of fuels, the increase of imports remained at 10.3% while exports increased by 6.8%. The deficit in the trade balance in June was € 1 682 million, which translates into an increase of 641 million euros compared to June 2017. "Excluding Fuels and lubricants, the balance of trade reached a negative balance of 999 million euros. euros, corresponding to an increase of the deficit of 231 million euros compared to June 2017, "explains INE.

 

Looking at the quarterly analysis of the numbers, exports slightly exceeded imports: 10.5% of sales compared to 10.4% of purchases. The comparison with the month of May again shows a deceleration of exports, which fell 0.3%, while imports grew 8.3%. The difference, according to the INE, is "a reflection of the variations observed in the extra-EU trade in both flows, since intra-EU trade showed zero changes compared to the previous month". With regard to exported goods, the sales champions in June were fuels and lubricants, an increase of 36.9%, and Transport material, up 26.2%. Among imported goods, the highlight is also for fuels, which registered a year-on-year rate of change of 92.8%. In June there was also an increase in exports to Spain, Germany and France. In contrast, INE estimates sales to Angola "which in the course of 2018 have registered successive decreases, which in cumulative terms correspond to a decrease of 15.5% in the first half of 2018".

 

In the same period Portugal increased the volume of purchases to Germany and Spain, while imports from Brazil accumulated a fall of 58.9%.

 

 

Source, Dinheiro Vivo.