21/4/2011 00:00:00
In March 2011, there is a more marked economic growth for imports (+3.5%) than exports (+1.5%). In the first quarter of the year, economic growth is high for both exports (+7.4%) and imports (+7%). The trend growth rate remains high, although at a slower rate than in previous months: +24.2% for imports and +16.5% for exports. The trade deficit with countries outside the EU widens, increasing from -1.5 billion in March 2010 to -2.9 billion in March 2011. In March, the deficit of the energy industry is broader than a year earlier (-5.2 compared to -4.5 billion). This deficit contributes to about half of the widening trade deficit observed compared to March 2010. The surplus in the exchange of non-energy products also decreases: from 3 billion in March 2010 to 2.3 billion in March 2011. The intermediate products (+21.5%), non-durable consumer goods (+19.3%) and instrumental goods (+11.7%), drive the growth of sales in markets outside the EU, explaining almost 90% of the upward trend in exports. The growth in imports of intermediate products (+53.1%) is very strong. They explain by themselves more than 55% of the total import increase and result in a negative balance of 1.1 billion. The more dynamic target markets are: Turkey (+40.4%), Switzerland (+35.5%), China (+32.7%), Japan (+30%) and Russia (+25.4%) . Weaker is the growth towards the Mercosur countries (+10.4%), while the OPEC countries recorded a fall in exports of 13.5%. Import growth is high in the EDA countries (+47.4%), India (+38.4%), Mercosur countries (+30.7%), ASEAN countries (+28.7%) and the United States (+28.5%); smaller flows from Russia (+10.5%) and the OPEC countries (+13.1%).
